The Nectar of Gods and Demons
by Lutharo
Summary: Edward has spent the last year and a half in Creta and is finally returning. But back in Amestris he finds civil unrest and death. A new force threatens the peace, and it falls on Ed to save the day. Alternate ending to the manga.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or places etc in this work

* * *

'Equivalent exchange is the ultimate guiding principle of Alchemy, the world even. You know this Edward. We cannot escape it. For something to be gained something of equal value must be lost.' Declared Hohenheim solemnly, as he rose from of his recently reincarnated younger son. 'In order to bring back your brothers body just now you had to trade your gate, your connection to alchemy, didn't you?'

'Yes,' Ed replied tersely.

'Do you regret the price you've paid?'

'Never.'

The forceful simplicity of his statement bespoke volumes of his resolve, causing a slight smile to spread across Hohenheim's features. 'My my that's such a mature sentiment; you've really grown on your journey.'

'What the hell's that supposed to mean bastard,' growled Ed in response, as quick to anger as ever, especially whenever anyone drops the g-word.

'It means that we believe you have suffered for your sin already.'

With no more warning than that, Hohenheim launched himself forward, his hand smashing into Ed's face, grinding it into the ground.

'What the hell are you doing?' came a smothered gasp from Ed; his surrounding comrades only able to look on in shock.

'I'm giving you exactly what you deserve my son.' Hohenheim whispered into Ed's ear, as he was surrounded by a flash of blue light, 'I'm bringing you justice!'

The glorious light given off in the alchemic reaction warred in a powerful disharmony with the grating screech of Ed's laboured screams. It lasted only a moment, but for Ed it seemed an eternity. Every inch of flesh, every fibre, every cell of his body burned in agony as Hohenheim's Alchemy worked its way to his very core.

Rising from his son's smoking form, Hohenheim whispered in a barely audible voice, 'Just because a price has to be paid doesn't mean that you cannot choose who is to pay the price. Goodbye, my son.'

Sparing one last glance at Alphonse's withered form, Hohenheim turned and walked away, it was not long before he had completely disappeared in the crowd.

Even as his father walked away, Ed's world seemed to waver. Like a ripple across his mind, reality shuddered as the young man fought towards consciousness.

Edward awoke to find himself aboard a train. Sweat drenched his face and a chill curled down the length of his spine, defying the warmth of the summer afternoon. He'd been having that dream on and off for almost a year now. For a year now he'd been intermittently reliving his last moments with Him. And yet, despite continually reliving the experience, despite dwelling on it for hours on end, he knew that there was something he didn't remember. Something he didn't understand about what had happened that day. Something that He had done. An impossible act, that had given Ed back his Alchemy. An action that had cost Hohenheim the last of his philosopher's stone.

Sighing, Ed stretched into a sitting position, his vertebrae cracking as he pulled his back taut. A quick glance out the window told him that they were nearing Central Station.

He'd spent the last year and a half in the Western country of Creta, officially to further international relations, but in reality he'd actually been studying Western alchemy. Unfortunately though it hadn't really done him much good; the alchemy of the land wasn't hugely developed and was mostly centred on agricultural alchemy besides. He found some solace in the fact that his official goal had been successful, having been able to stop the decade long war that had been waging between the two countries.

He supposed that that was enough to make the trip worthwhile, but he couldn't help the slight twinge of guilt he felt whenever he thought how long he'd been away from home. Away from Al and his friends; away from Winry. He felt his face heat up at the thought of the blond mechanic. Immediately embarrassed he desperately tried to banish her from his thoughts. It was for naught however, as he soon felt the usual litany of doubts and questions raise up in his mind. What if she'd changed her mind and moved on? What if his ambiguous confession had been misconstrued? What if she'd found a bigger wrench? He'd been brooding over these questions for almost a year and a half now, his worry only intensifying with time.

'I wonder where I should go first,' mused Ed aloud as he disembarked from the train, 'I could either go see Winry, or I could hand in my report. Ha! Like that's a choice.'

'You're right Fullmetal it isn't, your duty to the state clearly comes first.' Declared a figure stepping forward to walk besides him.

'What's the point in that Mustang?' returned Ed, completely unfazed by the Flame Alchemist's unexpected arrival. 'The fact that you'd knew I'd be here means that you've been following my movements pretty closely, as usual.'

'I've had the occasional report on your whereabouts. I'd mostly stopped reading them though, there are only so many times you can read about cow tipping before it becomes boring.'

A muscle in Ed's eyebrow began to twitch.

'But when I heard that a 'short Amestrian alchemist' had saved the life of the Cretian King and thus ended the war, well I immediately started to pay attention to my reports.'

Another muscle began to pulsate.

'Imagine my surprise when I found out that the short Amestrian alchemist was actually our short Amestrian state alchemist. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, but there it was, all reports confirmed it. Every single one indicated that you still hadn't grown.'

'I SEE THAT YOU HAVEN'T GROWN UP EITHER YOU STUPID SHITTY COLONEL!'

'Now now Fullmetal, someone of your standing needs to keep his composure. Oh and by the way, it's Lieutenant General now.'

'Lieutenant what?'

'Lieutenant General, I was promoted. Shortly after you left, Fuhrer Grumman did a complete work through of the military, seeing as we sadly lost all of our higher ranks a new top brass had to be assigned.'

'I should probably head back to Creta right now then shouldn't I, with you helping to run the country everything will go to hell in no time.'

'Thanks for your confidence, I'll be sure to pass it on to the poor Lieutenant General that they made Minister of Internal Affairs.'

'So the army is still the governing body huh? What did they make you head of then?' sighed Ed as he stepped out of the station and into the sweltering heat of the midday sun.

'You're looking at the Minister of Foreign relations and Espionage,' preened Mustang as he stepped into an awaiting car, gesturing for Edward to follow him.

'Heaven help us, a blind man watching our borders,' muttered Ed under his breath.

'I can see perfectly fine now, thanks to Dr Marcoh,' smirked the Lieutenant General, clearly glad with the way things had worked out.

'What have you done with Hawkeye then? I'm surprised she's not with you,' inquired Ed, finally managing to get a rise out of Mustang, as the former Colonel flinched at the very name.

'The Lieutenant doesn't know that I'm here. As far as she is concerned I'm in my office doing my paperwork, and haven't left the office all day. And that's the way it will stay!' said Mustang, driving home his declaration with a death glare in Edward's direction.

Ed only smirked and turned away to look at the window and watch the crowds of Central engage in their day to day lives. Minutes began to pass as the silence between them stretched, before eventually Roy decided to speak into the silence.

'You're going to have to start work straight away you know.'

'No can do, my leg is busted, I need to go and see Winry at Resembool. Besides, work on what exactly, I said I was turning in my resignation after I went to Creta.'

'Yes I know, and at first we accepted it, but then some problems came up.'

'What sort of problems.'

'Well first of all there was a general outcry from the people when it was announced that the 'People's Alchemist' was leaving his post. People assumed it meant you didn't approve of the current order, there was substantial unrest, and so we had the publicly rescind your resignation.'

'Smart people Amestrians,' murmured Ed smugly, 'however that's not enough to make me stay, it's nothing a carefully worded speech couldn't fix.'

'Well then there was the matter of your promotion, and the fact that the Fuhrer has ordered that you accept your new position.'

'I don't really care about that, he can't stop me from leaving.'

'Yes but he's placed you in a rather pivotal position, your loss would be rather devastating.'

'How could my loss possibly be devastating? I haven't even been working in it, whatever it is. What is it anyway?' Asked the young Alchemist, curious despite himself.

'Well Lieutenant General Elric, you have been made Minister of Internal Affairs,' the Flame Alchemist smirked, sitting back in his chair to fully appreciate Edward's facial expression.

'WHAT!' screamed Ed, 'that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.'

'I agree, I spent many hours arguing that we needed someone bigger to fill that chair, but the Fuhrer was adamant.'

Ed's eyes narrowed in a slight glare, 'It doesn't matter anyway, I'm still resigning my post.'

'Really, is that so?' said Roy as the car pulled up at a hotel.

'Yes it is.' Replied Ed as they disembarked from the car.

'What if I told you that there's been a lot of civil unrest in Central at the moment. That there have been a lot of people disappearing or turning up dead. That the corpses of human chimaera' have been found in the street.'

'I'm sure that you'll be able to deal with it.'

'That's the thing, I'm not sure if we can, this is an area that no one but you has any real experience. This is class A abuse of Alchemy we're talking about, try though we might you're the only one we've found who is even remotely capable of handling this sort of situation. You know damn well that this sort of thing is suited to your talents, and you know damn well that if you don't accept the Fuhrer's position that you'll be dooming more people to death. We might be able to solve it, but without you the process will be far slower.'

_'Shit, he always knows just how to work me doesn't he.' _Thought Edward, resigned to his fate. He'd known as soon as Mustang had mentioned the chimaera that he'd have to do something, he just hadn't wanted to admit it.

'Fine I'll do it.'

'Alchemist be thy for the people.'

'Don't go quoting that old adage to me, I already said I'd do it.'

Mustang shook his head as they began to climb the stairs, towards what Ed assumed was a pre-prepared room. 'No, that's not what I'm saying it for. The other thing about the recent incidents is that on each occasion we've found a piece of paper on which was written that saying.'

They travelled the rest of the way in contemplative silence as Mustang let the possible ramifications of that fact sink in.

Eventually Mustang stopped in front of a door.

'Here we are Elric, these are the rooms the military has booked out for you until a more permanent residence is prepared for you, a car will pick you up in the morning and you can make your report to the Fuhrer and brief you on all the details of the current situation.' He said, handing Ed the key to the room and then walking off down the street.

'But I still have to visit Resembool!' called out Ed to the Flame's retreating form, 'My leg is basically scrap metal.'

'Oh I wouldn't worry about that Fullmetal, preparations have been made,' he called back as he descended down the stairs.

Shaking his head in confusion to the ex-colonel's words, and turned back to the door. _'What's he going on about, he knows that Winry won't let me use military mechanics. He knows that if I showed up with someone else's automail that she'd kill –'_

He never finished the rest of that thought, for just as he went to open the door to his room it suddenly burst open. He caught a brief glimpse of blond hair and a black skirt before blacking out as something very hard and very metallic smashed into his face.

* * *

The first thing that Ed was aware of was an annoying wet feeling on his face, spreading out from what felt like a full blown migraine. The second thing he realised was that he had no idea where he was. Fortunately, the last year and a half in Creta had gotten him used to exactly this kind of situation. Safety, he knew, lay in gathering information, and to do that he'd best feign sleep for as long as possible. Leaving his eyes closed he did his best to prevent his tension and apprehension from appearing on his face. Relaxing his muscles, he regulated his breathing so as to make it seem like he was sleeping.

_'Ok, first things first, gather information,' he_ thought, _'what do I know about my situation? Pain in my head, most likely knocked out, meaning the enemy is probably hostile and violent. Seem to be laying on a soft surface, likely a bed, meaning that –'_

His thought process brutally cut short by Winry rapping him on the head with her wrench.

'I know you're awake idiot, you forgot to mimic your snoring,' annoyance all but dripping from her voice.

'Owww, God damn it Winry, what was that for?' groaned Ed to glare at her angrily, 'What a way to welcome me back!'

'What was that for? It was for 18 months without so much as a single letter or a phone call! 18 months with absolutely no news from you! That's what it's for. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't do it again,' ground out Winry from behind clenched teeth.

'Umm, I'm currently wounded and barely conscious; who knows what another blow could do now?'

She frowned down at his blood smeared face. She knew he was just being glib, she'd hit him hard enough to leave an impression on him, but not enough to seriously hurt him, a fact which she knew he knew. Nonetheless, looking down at his face, she couldn't help but feel a little bit of guilt, especially when she looked at his nose; she really hadn't intended to break it, it just sort of happened. After a moments contemplation she decided that her only real course of action was to relent, for the time being at least.

'Alright, fine. I won't hit you with the wrench again. But that doesn't mean you're off free, you still had better have a bloody good reason for not even trying to contact me.'

'You promise that you won't hit me again with the wrench,' nudged Ed, a sly lilt to his voice.

'Yes I promise, no more wrench.'

'Excellent.'

With that Ed sat straight up from where he'd been laying on the bed, forcing Winry, who'd been leaning over him at the time, to jump back in order to avoid a collision. Wincing slightly from the pain in his head, Ed clapped his hands together to make an alchemic circle. He then placed his hands over his temples and allowed the alchemy to take its course. When he took his hands away the bruise that had dominated his face was gone and his broken nose was back in its rightful alignment.

'What? How did you do that? I thought Human Transmutation was impossible?' stammered Winry, as Ed began to wipe his face from a nearby basin that Winry had prepared.

'Not impossible just difficult. I figured out how to do it one day,' said Ed, frowning for a moment as he realised that he couldn't remember when he'd figured it out, ' you've got to really know what you're doing, have a strong grasp of human anatomy. It's only impossible to bring a dead person back to life, once they die, their souls gone and it's impossible to get back. But my soul is still here, the connection between mind, body and soul is still strong, thus it's just a matter of fixing my body.'

'Oh,' said Winry, who'd long since learned not to bother listening to him during his alchemy rants, 'But you still haven't explained why you didn't call. Once Al got to Xing he called every week, and he sent several letters, would it really have been so difficult to call once?'

'Creta's pretty back water, Win, they only people who have phones are the government and royal family, and by the time I'd gotten to close enough to them I was only a day or two away from coming home.'

'Ahuh, and what about letters then, going to try to convince me that they don't have paper in Creta? Or that you couldn't pass a message through the military?'

'Things happened, got in the way, I didn't have time to write a letter. It doesn't matter now I'm back, you can let it go.'

'That's bullshit Ed and you know it. Every day I worried about you, about whether you were safe, about whether you'd managed to piss off anyone, like you usually do. About whether your automail was holding up. And you're trying to tell me that it doesn't matter. You prick,' replied Winry, on the verge of tears by the end. Seeing this, and know he had to prevent tears at all cost, Ed folded. Reaching forward he pulled her into a hug.

'Don't cry Winry, look I'm sorry I really am, but things were difficult, and I couldn't write anything that sounded right. Does it really matter now though? I'm here, and I'm healthy so everything's alright right? There's no need to cry now. Besides, you're only allowed to cry tears of joy, remember?'

A rather wet giggle escaped Winry at this last comment. 'Ok, I suppose. I'm glad your back Ed, I m-missed you.'

Ed felt a blush rise to his cheeks, 'Umm, yeah I missed you too Win.'

They stood there, like that, in each other's arms for a moment, both content for the time being just be with the other. A small smile played across Ed's lips as he held her, gently stroking her hair; nothing else mattered, the military, Creta, all his doubts and worries melted away under her warm embrace. For a while they were both at peace.

Sadly though, no embrace lasts forever, and eventually something that had been insistently nagging Ed for months finally spilled out.

'Ah, look Winry, I know I just got back and all. But I really need you to take a look at my leg, it's killing me.'

'What?' frowned Winry, ice suddenly dripping from her voice.

'My automail, it's possible, just vaguely possible, that I kinda, maybe broke it. Only a little bit though!' rushed Ed, sweet pouring down his face despite the coolness of her glare.

'YOU BROKE MY AUTOMAIL! MY FINEST AUTOMAIL?'

'Only a little bit Winry I swear!'

'How much is only a little bit, ED? Well?' ground out Winry, regretting her promise to avoid using her wrench.

'W-well, um it's all st-still in one piece,' stammered backing away from the enraged girl, 'but unfortunately that piece is over there, in my bag.'

'WHAT?' somehow her expression darkened as the import of what he was saying sank in. 'Tell me, Ed, if your leg is over there then how exactly is it that you're standing right now.'

'Well I was kind of in the middle of, something, at the time, so I sort of improvised a new leg using my alchemy.'

'Does it work?' she asked in a small voice, secretly terrified that Ed no longer really needed her.

'Well yes, and no. I mean I can move around but it's a little bit on the heavy side,' he replied, sitting down on a nearby chair and pulling up his pant leg. What he revealed looked more like a building's support girder than any piece of automail Winry had ever seen. It was essentially just two lumps of steel connected by a crude hinge, the whole thing held to his leg by some sort of brace. Most bizarre of all however, was that all around the steel was an intricate system of strings, all leading up to attach to various parts of his upper thigh.

'What the hell is that? What's with all the strings?' said Winry, torn between relief that she hadn't been replaced and professional horror at the sight before her.

'Those strings are a work of pure genius,' preened Ed, his tone taking on an irritatingly smug edge, 'I decided it would be better if I didn't mess with the port on my leg, or my nerve endings for that matter. So, instead I rigged up these strings to be sensitive to muscle clenches in my thigh. By clenching it just right I can move my leg. I don't have a lot of movement but enough to walk in a straight line. Not bad for a three second job.'

'It makes your leg look like the deformed offspring of a support beam and fishing net.'

'Just because you can't appreciate its beauty.'

'I'd have to be deranged to appreciate that things beauty.'

'Every work of art has its critics you gear head!'

'Yeah but most have their fans too, you alchemy freak! That,' she declared, pointing at his leg, 'is what happens when you use your alchemy to try and work on a pure art form. How much does that thing weigh anyway?'

'About 35kg,' mumbled Ed, avoiding looking her in the eye.

'35! How the hell are you moving that thing around?'

'Skill and raw manliness.'

'More like idiotic brute force.'

'Ok, ok, I get it, you're not able to see its brilliance, and that fine, I'm willing to be the big man here and let it go.' Said Ed in as high and mighty a tone as he could muster, sending Winry's fingers twitching towards her wrench. 'Are you able to build me a new leg?'

'Not here, no, I need a work shop. When we get back to Resembool though I should be able to yes.'

'Ahh, yes well about that...'

'About what?'

'Never mind, we'll worry about that latter,' said Ed, wisely deciding that he was in enough trouble at the moment as it was, 'how about for now we just go and get something to eat, I'm starving! And while you're at it you can fill me in on what's been going on here, and with Al.'

'What's that? You're offering to buy me dinner? Oh that's so nice of you.'

'Umm, yeah ok, sure I guess.' Returned Ed now suspecting that he'd was being played.

A few minutes later they found themselves in the lobby of the hotel, a large finely furnished room which was clearly designed to be appear as rich and grandiose as possible. The room was mostly deserted, a little girl and her mother sat in one corner, an elderly man smoked a pipe in another, and a receptionist attended the front door. As Ed and Winry entered however, another group swaggered in through the front door.

There were five in total. Four of them were so heavily cloaked to completely hide all discernible features, except, that was, for the pronounced stoop that each of them had in common. The other member, clearly the leader stood apart from his fellows, standing confidently ahead of the group, radiating arrogance with every breath. Dressed comfortably in business attire, from the long formal pants and shirt, to the light brown vest and red tie, he stood in stark contrast to his hunched associates. Long neat black hair framed a thin yet handsome face, from the mouth of which he held a cigarette. In his hands he toyed with a deck of cards, throwing them back and forth with the confidence of a long time gambler. Together they radiated an aura of violence, hostility and death.

Upon seeing them, Ed grabbed Winry by the arm and forced her back into the corridor they'd just come from, hiding her from the group behind a wall.

'Hey Ed, what the hell are you doing, you're hurting me!'

'Just stay here a minute would you.'

'What, why? What's going on?'

'I'm not sure, but something's not right, just wait here for a minute ok,' without waiting for a reply Ed turned around and walked back into the lobby. He got back in time to see the uncertain looking receptionist approach the group and ask the leader if they had a booking.

'Why yes, I believe we do.' Smirked the man in reply, his voice educated and refined.

'Ok, what name is that under?'

'Here all the details are written on this,' he declared handing her a sheet of paper, smirking as he did so.

Unfolding the paper the receptionist squinted down at it for a moment, her lips moving slightly as she read, a look of confusion growing on her face.

'I'm sorry sir there seems to be some kind of mista-'

She was cut off as the cards in the man's hands flashed in alchemic energy. All of a sudden some of the cards shot out from his grasp, forming a sword in his hands. The cards pierced through the young lady, ripping straight through her heart, silencing and killing her in the same instant. Without a further sound she collapsed forwards to the sword of cards, only to collapse to the ground as the 'blade' suddenly disappeared back into the mysterious murderer's hands.

His countenance gave no indication of what he'd just done, Ed had been looking directly into his face at the time and he saw not a flicker of emotion cross his eyes. He just stood there with his smug smirk plastered across his face. The woman had died, and it didn't affect him at all. Ed felt a small part of himself die as he looked at the lady's corpse on the floor, her blood seeping across the tiles. Horror filled him at the thought of her death, and disgust that he'd been there and been unable to do anything about it

For a moment there was silence as everyone stopped to register what had just happened, then there was a high pitched scream from the mother in the corner as she grabbed her daughter and started to run for the door. The old man also jumped from his spot, hobbling towards Edward in a desperate attempt to escape. At the same time however the cloaked figures abandoned their disguises and leapt into action. They were a group of four human chimaeras, all of them in their half-human half-beast form. Two of them, a pair of dogs, went after the mother and daughter, the others, half human half lizards, chased the old man at inhuman speed.

In a heartbeat Ed processed and analysed this change in situation. Bolting forward till he passed the old man, Ed clapped his hands to make a transmutation circle and leapt forwards, spinning in midair so as to land on his hands. The ground rumbled as his hands touched the floor, a wall of earth forming in front of where he stood and running the length of the room to separate the mother and child from the pursuing aggressors. Satisfied that they'd get out unharmed, Ed turned his focus on the two fast approaching lizardmen.

Using the momentum from his jump Ed propelled himself feat first towards his foes, delivering a devastating blow with his left leg to the closer of the two. The hardened face of the chimaera was no match for the block of solid steel that was Ed's leg; the contact shattered a cheekbone and sent the target flying into a nearby wall, rendering him unconscious. Still riding the momentum from his leap, Ed reached down grabbed his other foe by the shin, tripping him up as Ed landed gracefully behind him. The moment he landed Ed spun on the spot, raised his automail limb in the air and delivered a powerful downwards kick to the back of the fallen chimaera. By Ed's usually accurate calculation, the lizardman suffered several broken bones, some minor organ damage and would lapse into unconsciousness for several hours. He would be in pain for a long time, but thereno life-threatening injuries

Slow, almost sardonic, clapping reverberated through the room. The source was the group's leader, his smirk still plastered over his face.

'Well done Mr Elric, most impressive. I'm glad to see that the tales of your skills are not exaggerated. You managed to save all of them; well, three out of four isn't bad,' he mocked, idly kicking the receptionists motionless body.

Edward had to grit his teeth in order to hold back his rage at the murder's callous disregard for life.

'What the hell do you want?'

'Straight to the point hmm? No desire for the pleasantries? Well, as you wish. To be honest I would have thought that the reason for our attack here would have been apparent. We want you, or more precisely we want you dead. What other reason would an alchemist and four chimaera attack a hotel so close to Central HQ?'

'Why?'

'Oh come now, you don't really expect me to answer that do you?'

'Then answer me this? Why did she have to die?' Demanded Ed, gesturing at the receptionist.

'Her? Why did she have to live?'

For one who had been through hell in the preservation of life, such a cold answer was nothing more than insulting, especially with the deceased still warm at the feat of her murderer. Incensed, Edward started to walk forward, fury dripping from him from every pore.

'Ah ah, I wouldn't do that if I were you.' Suddenly a tendril of cards shot out from the murderous alchemist, snaking past Edward. A slight squeal of surprise, quickly cut off, sounded behind him. The cards retracted, dragging Winry, who'd apparently come to investigate, with them, an elaborate array of cards holding her in place while simultaneously threatening to slit her throat. Dread suddenly clenched Ed's heart, and fear spread across his face; he stopped dead in his tracks. If anything his foe's smile became darker.

'Let her go you bastard!'

'Now now, Edward, there is a lady present, we have to retain at least a modicum of civility. You can start by staying where you are.' He grinned as he pulled another piece of paper, identical to that which he handed to the receptionist, from his pocket. Leaning over Winry's terrified form, he trailed his moth across her exposed neck as his hand slid down and nestled the paper between her breasts. 'She really is a pretty one too, a shame really.'

'Get your hands off her you prick,' growled Ed his fists clenching by his sides as he shook with rage.

His response was for the captor to turn to one of the chimaera and bark an order.

'Number 3, release your restraint, then kill.'

Immediately a bloodcurdling howl ripped from the throat of the chimaera, as he began to transform. Somehow, the already animalistic form of the man became more bestial. Muscle grew upon muscle, his grey fur thickened, fangs and fur lengthened and sharpened and his stoop became more pronounced. His upright posture the only indication of his partial humanity.

Turning, the beast charged Ed, far faster than it had been before, it closed the distance between them in seconds. Surprised by this change, Ed hesitated a moment too long and was unable to block his attack. He felt the wind knocked out of him as the monster sparta kicked him into a nearby wall, a small crater forming around him.

'And to think, for a moment there I was actually worried. You're nothing special Mr Elric, nothing more than another tool of the state' called the alchemist.

Ed felt a gash at the top of his head causing blood to trickle down his face. Ringing filled his ears. A pain in his chest told him that at least three ribs were broken. And worst of all the person most dear to him was being held hostage by an alchemy wielding psychopath. Definitely not Ed's best day.

With a grunt at the pain Ed pushed himself free of the debris that had fallen around him, clapping his hands together the moment he was free of the wreckage. The chimaera mercilessly charged him once more, this time attempting to use his claws to gut the blond alchemist. Ed was prepared for this however, and had already adapted to the creatures speed. Waiting till the last moment, he calmly sidestepped the attack, backhanding the beast as he stumbled forward. At his touch the chimaera's entirely body clenched before collapsing to the floor in a twitching heap.

'Ohh now that was interesting. I thought the so-called 'Hero of the People' was above killing.'

'He's still alive, I just activated all the nerve endings in his body, every muscle in his body from the neck down just cramped, he'll be out of action for days.'

'Clever, but it still doesn't change your current predicament. Unless you want to see your pretty young girlfriend here sliced to pieces suggest you stop resisting,' he growled grabbing at Winry's chin to emphasise his point.

'We both know that that's an empty threat now. You pointed out yourself the proximity of this hotel to Central HQ, a legion of soldiers will be here in a matter of seconds, you can already hear the sirens. When that happens you'll have no means of escape, you'll be trapped here to face imprisonment or worse. If you hand her over now, unharmed, you might still have a chance to escape.'

The alchemists smirk finally faltered, a thoughtful look clouding his eyes as he listened to the sound or approaching sirens.

'You might just be on to something, amazing to see a dog of the military thinking for himself. But this only delays the inevitable, this doesn't end here, we'll come for you, and the rest of you war hounds, and we'll make you wish you'd never been born. Number four, fetch.' He hissed at Ed before yelling at the last chimaera. As he finished speaking the cards in his hand binding Winry began to undulate, eventually raising her up off the ground in order to fling her against the room.

Both Ed and the chimaera sprinted towards Winry's flying form, even as the other alchemist began to flee out the door. Ed was hampered by his ungainly leg and wounds, but he didn't have far too go, and so managed to catch Winry before she hit the floor, saving her from any serious harm. Unfortunately the beast was almost as fast as his partner and was upon them before Ed had time to properly react.

Filled with bloodlust the chimaera lunged forward and attempted to bite Winry's head. Spinning, Ed flung up his arm in front of the beast shielding Winry from the beasts fangs. The full force of the chimaera's bite came crushing down on Ed's right shoulder, fangs plunging deep into flesh. Instinctive the dogman started to tear at his arm, dislocating the limb and shredding muscle tendon and bone alike. A scream of agony filled Ed's lungs under the might of the chimaera's attack.

Collapsing to the ground, darkness from the loss of blood started to cloud his vision. Ed could only sit and stare as the brute in front of him reared up in the air, howling its victory. Its howl was cut short however, blood spraying out from its chest as a bullet cut through its heart. The chimaera toppled forward dead, showering the blond couple in its death blood. Ed caught a glimpse of Lieutenant Havoc standing at the front door, a smoking gun in his hand. It was the last thing he saw as the darkness consumed him completely and he was sent into unconsciousness to the sound of Winry desperately screaming his name.

* * *

I encourage all forms of review so feel please review!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of the Fullmetal Alchemist universe.

* * *

A soft wind gushed through the streets of Central, cutting through the cloying smell of oil and sewerage, providing a moment of reprieve to the throng of people bustling through the city's streets. Unconcernedly they went about their business, unaware of the darkness the crept through its shadowy underbelly, corrupting everything it touched. The city throbbed with emotion, love and loss, mirth and misery filled the people in the endless cycle of life. Joyously they celebrated life and the peace that the new order brought, oblivious to the festering pit of malcontent that lay in deepest pit of the city's heart.

The wind drifted aimlessly through town, flowing indiscriminately across tableaus both idyllic and despairing, through scenes of merriment and terror. Lazily it whirled past a playground of laughing children, to reach a man in a gutter gasping his last breath. It brushed through the hair of a young couple walking hand-in-hand in the park, only to descend on a bloodthirsty chimaera concealed in the bush, awaiting its prey. The wind breezed on onto the beaming face of a released cancer patient, before rising up to the tap the hospital window of an unconscious young man who'd had an arm and a leg torn from him. On it travelled, panning across the thousands of scenes of ecstasy and desolation which comprised the town.

Inside the hospital the young patient inhaled deep steady breaths, his heart monitor beeping at a constant stable rate. Bandages were tied tightly across his chest, pressing broken ribs and covering his now armless right shoulder. At the foot of his bed sat a blond woman, of a similar age. Her cerulean eyes turned red puffy, betraying a night spent awake crying, as she prayed and waited for his recovery. Her lip trembled ever so slightly as a single tear slid down her face. Outside the room, two motionless guards kept a silent vigil, warding off even the most innocent of passersby's.

It was the morning after the attack on the hotel and attempted assassination of Edward Elric. The arrival of lieutenant Havoc and troop of Central soldiers initiated a whirlwind of activity. Within moments a team of paramedics had swarmed over Ed, and taken him up into their ambulance, rushing off to the hospital. Winry was ushered into a military car and questioned on what had happened, she told what she could, but in all honesty she was still shocked and confused. Her mind had refused to accept what had happened, leaving her in a state of numb disbelief.

It wasn't until she was permitted to see Ed that it hit home. Seeing him, lying there, hooked up to hospital machines, his face pale from blood loss, and his arm amputated, struck her to the core, forcing her to face what had happened. She relived being captured and then flung like a rag doll across the room. She watched anew as Ed shielded her, as his arm was shredded by that beast. She felt the blood splatter across her face, and felt the fear rise in her chest. But most of all she felt horror at what Ed had lost. At what he'd sacrificed; sacrificed for her.

He'd fought for years to get his arm back, gone through hell and back, and for what? A few meagre years with his arm, only to have it torn away again. It made a mockery of everything he'd fought so hard to achieve, and it was her fault. Objectively she knew that there was nothing she could have done, that it was that man's fault, the one who'd taken her captive, she knew that that Ed wouldn't blame her. But that didn't stop the guilt and the shame that rose in her throat whenever she looked at his wounded form. It didn't stop her from wishing that she'd been able to do something, anything to prevent what had happened. It didn't stop her tears.

All she could do to cope with her guilt was attempt to design new automail, while she sat by his side, hoping he'd wake up. Perhaps, it wouldn't be so bad if she could create new tools for him to move forward; but in her heart she knew it wasn't the same. That it could never be the same, his arm was gone, for good this time. How could it be? What's more, how could it ever be the same between them? After she'd cost him an arm. And there was nothing she could do about it. So she sat by his side through the night, one hand on his arm and the other in her notebook, frantically designing limbs she couldn't see through her tears. Through it all he made not a sound, stirred not an inch. He did not cough, nor cry out; he gave no sign of life. The only things to give her hope the rise and fall of his chest and the constant beep of the heart monitor.

Eventually morning had come, marking the end of the worse night Winry had ever faced, a sleepless night of misery and self-recrimination. The guards changed, the doctors checked Ed's wounds and ordered her to get some rest. She ignored their commands however, her resolve to stay by his side for as long as she could, for as long as he'd have her, still strong. Eventually, that afternoon, she heard the sound of a car pull up outside, triggering a racket in the foyer to start. There was a lot of yelling involved, but it barely registered on her, it wasn't until it started to come closer that she gave it any mind.

She was able to hear the fall of heavy footsteps from down the far end of the hall, and was able to track them as they came progressively closer; eventually coming to a stop outside the room. She could make out a shadow of somebody from under the door, and here the sound of hushed exchange.

'_That's strange,' _she thought unconcernedly, unable to muster the effort required to show real interest, '_the guards have been turning away everyone. Who could it possibly be?'_

Her half-hearted question was quickly answered. The door banged open allowing the force that was Major Armstrong to burst into the room.

'Edward Elric! How are you feeling?' He boomed, his face shining with sincerity.

'Please Mr Armstrong, he's a sleep, and needs to stay that way for a while,' admonished Winry, after mastering her surprise at the man-mountain's sudden appearance.

'Yes of course, rest and relaxation is what he needs.' He replied in a shout that was slightly softer than previously, 'How is he doing.'

'The doctors says he'll be alright, but he's lost a lot of blood.'

'Mmm, yes of course,' said the major in the closest approximation of a murmur he could make. A gleam appeared in his eye, 'I'll personally stand guard outside his room and make sure that none interrupt his rest!'

'It's a little late for that wouldn't you say Major,' coughed Ed in a weak voice from the bed.

Winry felt her heart skip a beat, turning to him she saw him open his eyes blearily a slight smile on his face.

'You're awake at last!' yelled Armstrong, descending on the hospital patient and pulling him into a powerful bear hug, 'to think you were attacked so soon on your return to central. It was the most grievous misfortune that I was not there!'

'That's a very powerful embrace you've got there Major,' wheezed Ed, fearing that he'd break another rib.

'This method of comforting has been passed down the Armstrong line for Generations. And I'm a Major no longer.' He announced putting the blond alchemist down.

'Ha! So did you meet the same fate as Mustang and I?'

There was a brief pause as Armstrong sent an obviously significant glance in Winry's direction, 'Yes Edward, as has my sister.'

Ed tried to rise into a sitting position, only to be stopped by Winry.

'Ed you lay back down this instant. You'll open your wounds. And met what fate?' She bustled, attempting to gently push him back down.

'She's right Edward, you should get some rest,' declared Armstrong, ignoring Winry's question.

'I'll be fine for a moment, I tend to heal quickly,' mumbled Ed through a grimace, patting Winry's hand placatingly. 'Have you figured out who it was that attacked us?'

'Not yet Edward, Mustang is handling it, he's ordered that I not speak to you on the matter.'

'Like hell I'm going to let the matchstick, keep this from me, I have more interest in this than he does,' returned Ed, mention of the Flame Alchemist igniting some of his usual exuberance.

'This information has not yet received clearance to be released to the public Edward.' Said Armstrong in another attempted murmur, throwing a none-too-subtle glance at Winry.

They both looked a Winry for a second, neither game to ask her to leave the room. She stared back at them for a moment feigning obliviousness, before eventually giving up.

'Oh fine then,' she said raising her hands in the air, before adding in a threatening tone, 'I'll go. But by the time I get back you'd better be asleep Edward; and you had better be gone, he needs his sleep.'

'Of course Ms Rockbell.'

'Just go you gear head,' sighed Ed managing a small smile, a slight affectionate note in his voice. She felt a momentary glimmer of hope rise in her chest upon hearing his tone, but she quickly quashed it not wanting to risk raising her hopes.

The moment the door was closed Alex turned back to Ed, 'you're very lucky to have her.'

A slight blush rose in Ed's otherwise pale face, the change however was quickly followed by a sigh, 'To be honest I'm not really sure if I have her yet Major.'

'Lieutenant General.'

'Whatever, just tell me what you know.'

'The only information we've been able to get is from the paper left with Ms Rockbell and the deceased. Both contained the adage 'Alchemists be thy for the people', marking them as belonging to the same group that recently been causing trouble.'

'The chimaeras?'

'Pitiable beasts, all but mindless husks. Whatever shreds of humanity they have left are hidden deep. We got nothing out of them. All in all we know next to nothing.'

'I might be able to fill in some gaps, but I'll need to see some reports on their other movements first.'

'Of course, but that can wait, you need to heal first.'

'I'll be fine in a few days, Winry will build me a replacement leg and a,' a slight shadow crossed across his face as he forced out the next concession, 'new arm, and I'll be ready to go. We have to stop them, before they kill more people.'

'I know Edward, and we are doing what we can. But you just lost an arm, you need your rest, trust us to deal with this for now.' Asserted Armstrong, rising from his chair.

'Hospitals bore me, have tell Mustang to have them brought to me as soon as possible.'

'We'll see,' replied Armstrong, before pulling a salute, 'Lieutenant General Elric.'

This brought a round of weak laughter out of the wounded alchemist, 'that sounds so weird. I guess I can't escape it though can I? I can't break away, something like this will just keep coming along to pull me back.'

'Don't think of it as a burden. Think of it as the means to do what must be done. As enabling you to save lives that would otherwise be lost.'

'If only we were all as selfless as you Lieutenant General Armstrong,' muttered Ed a slight twist to his mouth as he lay back on the bed, his eyes drifting closed.

'I could say the same of you Edward,' he replied, finally achieving a whisper, as he stepped out of the room.

Ed listened to his steps gradually recede, and the sound of him entering his car and driving off. It was not long after that however that he was drawn back into sleep once more.

It was thus that Winry found him upon her return. It had been good to see him awake, she was much less worried about his health now. For sure she'd have to watch him for a few days, to make sure he didn't hurt himself, but at least now it seemed like he'd be ok. Sitting down on a chair next to him, she leaned down and rested her arms and head on the bed and promptly fell asleep

* * *

Marching out of the hospital Alex Louis Armstrong entered the waiting car.

'You really should see him yourself you know,' he suggested, turning to his travelling partner.

'No, I can't face him right now. It's my fault he's in there after all. It's my job to find out about these sorts of things before they happen.' Sighed Mustang, a weary look darkening his features.

'No-one could have predicted this.'

'I'm guessing you told him everything?'

'I left out the part about the Fuhrer's statue.'

'Good, he needn't worry about that yet. Though knowing Fullmetal he's probably already got suspicions of the gravity of the situation.'

'He probably does, no-one connects dots as quickly and accurately as he does. He requested-'

'Yes I'll send the case files around tomorrow morning,' said Mustang cutting Armstrong off in midsentence, 'I'll have Olivia assign him a full-time guard as well.'

Satisfied, the Strong Arm Alchemist sat back in his chair and allowed the rest of the trip back to Central command to pass in silence.

* * *

In a distant corner of Central, far from the shadow of Central HQ, a much differently motivated group gathered for council. From the outside no sign of their presence was given away, their hideout looking much like any of the other buildings surrounding it. No one would guess that deep underneath the building was a room especially designed for the groups meetings.

Cleverly constructed to fit in with the building's foundations the room had been designed to withstand all kinds of assault, from high explosives to alchemic manipulation. Its owner had a penchant for distrust and so had done everything possible to make the room unassailable. Twin layers of military grade steel panels lined the walls, floor and ceiling, protecting the room from all forms of physical assault. A buffering layer of poisonous gas between the two steel panels ensured that any alchemist who transmuted through the first layer would meet a quick but painful death. The room itself was airtight and contained power generators, air recyclers and enough food and water for its occupants to wait out a siege if necessary. The only weak point was the one-by-one metre square opening in the middle of a wall which served as a door. When primed unauthorised attempts at opening of the door would result in charges detonating throughout the building above them, burying the room unharmed in a small mountain of debris. The time it takes to clear wreckage being ample time to safely transmute a safe tunnel out through the floor.

Inside the room was surprisingly simply decorated. A basic, if large, table dominated the middle of the room, surrounded by high-backed office chairs. In the corner the supplies, generator and other essentials sat neatly stacked though mostly forgotten. The generator in particular was under appreciated, its actual use being limited by the almost total absence of lights in the room. Another precaution taken by the owner, distrusting of even his own council he held meetings in near total darkness just to shroud his face and emotions in shadows.

Every time that he came here he couldn't help but be amused at the expense extent of such a safe-room, and at the fear in the mind of the person who designed it. He knew insanity and a room this over the top showed all the hallmarks of insanity, the room gave away a lot of the owners true self, even if it masked his face.

'_At least it has comfortable chairs though_,' he thought, shifting his cigarette in his mouth and idly continuing to toss his cards back and forth between his hands. '_If only their occupants were so comforting.'_

Looking around the room did him little good, he could tell nothing of the other members, the only thing he really knew about them was their number. There were twelve members in total, eight men and four women, each given an alias based on royalty in a deck of cards; from the King of Hearts, to himself the Jack of Spades. Personally he found the titles appropriate.

All of them were alchemists, he was sure of it, just as he was sure that they were all extremely dangerous individuals. It made him nervous not being able to see them, gave him an itch right between his shoulder blades. Even if they were supposed to be his comrades, he knew that any of them would kill him if given half a chance. A fact he knew simply because he knew that he'd do the same thing to them. That thought always brought a smile to his face.

'I daresay we know why we're here,' said the soft male voice of the group's leader, 'the recent bungling of the assassination attempt on the Fullmetal alchemist.'

'_Arrogant prick, I should rip out your thr-,'_ he thought, his grip momentarily clenching on his deck of cards, '_no, no, not yet, there will be time enough for that eventually.'_

'Luckily however, we have the would-be-assassin here to explain the fiasco, if he can,' continued the voice, taking on a slightly dangerous edge.

'The military arrived faster than expected, and the chimaera I was given were not up to –'

'How dare you! Those chimaera were perfect, I designed them flawlessly, their death stemmed from your incompetence,' declared another male voice angrily. Leaning back in his chair he calmly considered what he knew of the owner of the voice. He actually knew the identity of this one, they all did, he was the one who made the chimaera. His alias was The King of Clubs, though why he bothered hiding his name was a mystery, everyone had had to meet him at some point to requisition a chimaera or two.

'They were as intelligent as the beasts they were, completely useless, they deserve the fate they got.'

'A feature which you specifically requested, as if it would somehow make them more obedient if they were unable to think. Bah!'

'The adequacy of the chimaera is not the current concern.' Broke in the soft voice, 'we're here to find out why the Jack of Spades failed his mission.'

The cards in his hands fell still, 'failed? I did not fail? I achieve what I was sent out to do. 'Drive fear into the heart of the military,' that is exactly what I did.'

An almost shrill giggle filled the room, 'I'm sorry I must have misheard,' tittered one of the women in an aggravatingly high pitched, almost childish, voice, 'the Fullmetal Alchemist still lives, in what way did you achieve your goal?'

'My attack cost Fullmetal one of his arms. And not just any arm, the arm that he fought so hard to get back. He's suffered a devastating loss, both personally and for the army. The loss of that one arm alone will send a message to the military, a message saying that not even one of their strongest alchemists can stand up to our might. If the Fullmetal alchemist could lose an arm, if the man who fought toe-to-toe with homunculi could be beaten in such a viciously appropriate manner, then what would happen to them, the regular troops. They will fear us.'

'But he still lives, he will be a thorn in our side,' claimed another male voice.

'He's the hero of the people, as misguided and ill-fitting as that is, it's still true. The people love him, love what he stands for, and believe what he says. If he dies he will become a martyr, a tool for the state to use to lead them to their own unnatural way of thinking. He's more of a threat to us dead than alive. Killing him in the first place was risky, now that our existence has become public knowledge and an official investigation has begun, killing him would be plain foolish.'

'Bluff and bluster all you want, it won't change the fact that you failed,' came the shrill mutterings of the woman who had spoken earlier.

'Yes, your failure to kill him is plain,' pronounced the leader imperiously, 'however perhaps you are correct that you have succeeded in your true goal. We will forgive this mistake for now, but know that this is the only time I will show you such leniency.'

Resting back in his chair he started to play with his cards again; his relief evident in his features if anyone were able to look.

'_You may forgive me my failure, in return I will forgive you, just this once, for your arrogance in thinking yourself worthy to cast judgment on me.' _He thought, a smile rising to his cheeks once more. _'One day though you time will come, and I'll get the satisfaction of killing you, and the Fullmetal pipsqueak. One day, I won't need you anymore.'_

And so, satisfied with how things had turned out, and already laying plans for the future, The Jack of Spades sat back in his chair and listened to the others discuss their next move.

* * *

Please feel free to review


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the Fullmetal Alchemist Universe

* * *

A lone woman runs fearfully down an alleyway in one of Central's slums. Poorly maintained lamps provide the only source of illumination. Their soft flickering light catches and refracts in the tears that run down her cheeks, a testament to the lack of comfort that their half-hearted shimmering brings to the terror-stricken woman.

Behind her the light finds a much more appreciative audience in the man that doggedly shadows her steps. Smiling, the man idly notes how beautifully her tears sparkle as she shakes them free of her face, how prettily her long blond hair splayed out behind her. Sparing a glance back, she shudders in dread as an errant ray of light glints off of a blade seemingly growing out of his arm. Beneath his cowl barely visible eyes glimmer in insanity, a grim mimicry of the blades silvery sheen. Screaming she redoubles her attempt at escape. The man worries not, he knows the alley ends only in death, he can take his time to appreciate his prey.

The woman reaches the alleyway's inevitable dead end. She spins to face her assailant; tears forming a puddle around her as she watches death approach. She lets out a final scream as the man's hulking form envelops her, falling silent as his blade cuts deep into her flesh. The man's excitement threatens to overwhelm him as he squeezes every last drop of ecstasy he can from his evenings catch. Before long the paving is stained with her blood.

On the rooftops above them, the shroud of a convenient chimney conceals the presence of an unexpected spectator. The viewer cared not for the woman's plight; his interest lay instead in the identity of her assailant. Through great effort on his part, he'd lain in wait for the man as he left their meeting place, shadowing him during his night's festivities. At last his patience was being rewarded, as the man finally removed his hood in order to fully enjoy his prize.

A satisfied smile spread across the observers face as he memorized the facial features of the man he knew to be the Jack of Diamonds. If he played his hand right, this one could become a useful tool, something with which he could strike a deep wound to his foe. But first he would need to wait until the right moment and provide the right sort of incentive.

As he watched, the man below finished his ministrations; he was never satisfied for long and would soon move on to his next victim before the night was out. Rising from the once beautiful woman, he pulled up his hood, once more concealing his face. From the rooftop, his onlooker thought he saw a sliver of silver liquid disappear beneath the folds of the man's cloak as he began to disappear down the alleyway.

There was no more need to follow him, for now. He knew his face and his haunts, and with that he'd be able to find him again. First however he would have to wait for the right circumstances to put his plan in action. Stepping out from his hiding place, he paused for a moment, sparing a considering glance for what remained of the unfortunate woman. Reaching into one of his pockets he pulled out a deck of cards and drew off the top card. A flick of his wrist sent the card sailing away from him, down the alley. Not bothering to look where it landed, he turned away, fading into the night.

'_Yes,' _he thought, '_tonight has been very successful.'_

In the morning the police would find her body, mangled beyond recognition, a Jack of Spades embedded in her chest.

* * *

Ed awoke in another unfamiliar bed, sporting throbbing pains in his shoulder and chest. Instinctively he froze, eyes closed he trained all his senses to his surroundings before the uniquely sterile smell of a hospital brought back the memories of what had happened. Pushing himself into a sitting position, he glanced down at his arm, or rather where his arm used to be. It was now just a mass of bandages pressed against his shoulder socket. Despite himself, he couldn't help a momentary wave of melancholy.

'_Goddamn. What the hell am I going to do now? I'm half the man I used to be. Well, I'm now the man I used to be. Shit. At least I'm a little bit taller than I used to be though.' _There was a moment's pause before he slapped a hand to his face realising the implication of that thought.

His moment of self pity passed quickly, however, as his thoughts turned to the receptionist. Another person he'd watched die in front of him, another pointless death. He could have stopped them; he should have followed his instincts and done something before it was too late. But no, he'd just stood there as she died. He'd sworn before that no more lives would be lost by his negligence. He'd failed again.

'No more, no more pointless death,' he muttered aloud, fist clenching in front of his face. It was at that moment that he knew he had no choice; he couldn't leave the military, not yet. If he did he'd be turning his back on all those people, he'd be costing people their lives. He wouldn't let there be another Nina, another needless death because of him.

At the sound of his voice, something started to stir beside him. To his left, he saw a sleepy looking Winry raise her head up and look at him for a moment. Next thing he knew it, her arms were around him and her head was buried in his left (thankfully) shoulder. Stupidly, the first thought that ran through his head was how this was much more enjoyable than Armstrong's hug. It took him a moment to realise she was shaking, quietly sobbing into his shoulder.

'What're you crying over Winry?' asked Ed, awkwardly patting her on the back.

'I'm so sorry!'

'Sorry about what?' he replied, his confusion evident in his voice as he pushed her back so that he could look at her.

'I – I cost you your arm! It's my fault you lost it,' she sniffed, a tear sliding down her cheek.

Ed's face took a grim cast, his expression serious he made sure to look her directly in the eye, so as to drive his point home.

'No you didn't, it wasn't your fault, it was his fault,' and mine, 'that I lost my arm. He chose to attack, he chose to use you as a hostage, he chose to send that chimaera after you. It was nobody's fault but his.' He was there for me, if it hadn't been for me he'd have never done this, if it wasn't for me you wouldn't be crying. 'So stop crying ya idiot.'

She could see in his eyes that he didn't blame her, it wasn't quite enough to quiet the guilt she felt, but it was enough to fan the flame of hope that was building in her chest.

'Shut up, alchemy freak,' she laughed softly, a smile breaking through her tears.

Ed copped the full blast of that smile, it clouded his mind and momentarily dazzling him, he couldn't help but smile back.

'You're smile is so pretty,' he mumbled before he could stop himself.

Winry froze in shock, feeling a blush rising in her cheeks. They both suddenly became very aware of the fact that their faces were just centimetres apart. An insistent pressure began to build up in her chest, urging her to lean forward and close the gap. The pressure warred with her uncertainty, pushing her on, but holding her back. Her breath caught in her chest as she saw him take the step and move closer, his lips parting ever so slightly. Closing her eyes she raised her head slightly to meet him, waiting for him, wanting to feel his lips. Their breath began to mingle, as they hovered on the verge of – a sudden cough from the doorway shattered the moment.

Embarrassed, Winry quickly sat back in her chair, her face now stained with a blush for different reasons. Ed held his ground, pulling a haughty frown to try and hide his mortification and his equally rosy cheeks.

'No, no, please go one, I always say that there's nothing like a teen drama first thing in the morning.' Smirked Second Lieutenant Havoc from the doorway, barely containing his mirth.

'What do you want Havoc?' snapped Ed with a glare, resolutely not looking at Winry.

'Not much, the Flame sent me around to give you these case files.' He said, dumping a pile of papers on Ed's lap, before sprawling in a nearby chair. 'He also said I'm supposed to guard you for a few days.'

'Bah, I don't need a guard,' muttered Ed, picking up the papers and grabbing a pencil from the bedside table, 'And why would you be guarding me anyway? And don't I already have guards outside my door?'

'You've got broken ribs, severe blood loss and you've lost an arm, and thus most of your fighting potential as an alchemist,' Listed of Havoc on his fingers, 'what's more we know you're a target for the enemy. As for those guards outside, those are permanently assigned to the hospital; they guarded me when I was in here.'

'Oh!' burst in Winry, 'I nearly forgot; congratulations on your recovery Mr Havoc.'

'Thanks, it was a close one, but everything has healed up now.'

'This still doesn't explain why you're the one who's guarding me,' muttered Ed absently, as he drew an alchemy circle on the top file.

'Heh, originally the boss man went to Lieutenant General Armstrong, ah Olivia that is, for some guards, but well that didn't go so well. Apparently she said something about survival of the fittest and not needing guards, and then booted him out of her office. So instead he chose me because –'

He was cut short as Ed pressed his fingers to the edge of his completed circle, and a flash of blue light filled the room. To Winry and Havoc's surprise an ink sphere rose from the files, a seemingly incomprehensible series of numbers and letters swirling randomly around the globe of ink. It seemed to make sense to Edward however; he studied it closely for a few minutes idly nodding to himself. Eventually he seemed to learn what he wanted to, leaning back on his bed he let the sphere collapse in on itself and sink back into the files. Picking them up, he handed them back to Havoc.

'Here you can take these back now.'

'Did, umm, did you just? I didn't know you could, umm –'

'Yes I did just read all the files. It's a trick that I learnt in, ahh,' he paused for a moment realising that there was another hole in his memory, 'Creta. Yes I learnt it there.'

'Oh ok, so you're sure you don't need these anymore?'

'Yes I'm sure, I got what I needed, well what I could get anyway. I'll need to go to the Fuhrer's statue for more information though. And the,' he flashed a quick glance at Winry, 'incident from last night is troubling, I'll need to see what's left of that as well.'

'Ok then we can go whenever you wish.'

'Umm, excuse me, but aren't you guys forgetting something? Ed's in no shape to go anywhere right now, he doesn't even have a leg at the moment. Not to mention the fact that he also needs to have a new port installed for his arm.'

'Can't you just give me a dummy leg for now, Win?'

'You're not leaving this room! You need your rest.' She stated firmly.

'I think you'd better do as she says Fullmetal,' sniggered Havoc, his amused look back on his face.

Ed glared at Winry for a moment, but she glared right back at him with enough determination to convince him that he wasn't going to win this.

'Ok fine. How about this though,' bargained Ed, figuring that conceding the point might soften her up to negotiation, 'I'll stay here today and tomorrow, but tomorrow afternoon you install my new port, and put in a dummy leg. Then I'll go the day after, while you're building my new leg and arm.'

Winry thought about it for a second, 'I'll need two days to make and fit your port.'

'But who know what'll happen in two days!'

'Well you'll just have to let others deal with it Ed because I can't work any faster!'

'Fine,' sulked Ed, glaring at Havok as he tried to hide his laughter.

'And your doctor has to agree to it.'

'Yes, yes, he'll agree, trust me I know my body,' muttered Ed, who was intending to transmute his ribs back into their proper position the moment that Winry left to make his arm-port.

'Oh, and I'll need a workshop, and some tools,' declared Winry thoughtfully.

'I'll take you to Central Command, they should have everything you need there,' smirked Havoc from the side.

'Good,' said Edward, 'while you're there you can have that idiotic boss of yours send round some things for me, I'll write you a list.'

'Oh no you don't you need your rest!' gritted Winry, flaring up for another confrontation.

'Oh please, it'll just be some papers and things Win, nothing serious. And shouldn't you be hurrying up and taking measurements for my arm?'

'Shut up! I don't need to take measurements to know you're a small,' she mocked her usual self returning at the sight of Ed's vitality. Nonetheless she produced a measuring tape from one of her pockets and got to work.

'I'm not small, you oil junky!' shouted Ed, 'I'm taller than the Amestrian average!

His comment sparked an insult war between the two of them, which Havoc conveniently chose to ignore. He sort of wished he hadn't interrupted that kiss before, perhaps that way he wouldn't have to sit here listening to the two of them scream at each other. _'Then again,' _he thought wryly, '_goodness only knows what I'd have to sit through if I hadn't.' _It was going to be a long couple of days, he decided glumly as he watched them. '_But then again, with Fullmetal, things are bound to get interesting._' That was something at least.

* * *

Ed sat alone in the semi-darkness, a full moon the only source of light, providing enough illumination for him to make out the features of his room, if little else. It was the night before his surgery, and he was tired, both physically and mentally. Even though he'd healed most of his wounds alchemically, he knew that it wouldn't be long before the effects of fatigue would pull him down into sleep. For now though, he was awake and tormented with endless, seemingly unanswerable questions about his attacker. Who was he? Where did he come from? What did he seek to gain? Why did he do what he did? Why did he continue to kill? That was the real clincher, the one from which he could not turn away.

Around him were scattered hundreds of discarded files covering a range of subjects. He'd had Havoc bring them to him. Detailed reports on known victims, a catalogue of all known registered and unregistered alchemists, he even had an index of all reported crimes in the last year and a half, in the hope to find something that had been overlooked. Sadly though, even after alchemically 'reading' each file, he'd found nothing, at least nothing relevant. For sure he'd had some small successes, identified a few extra related crimes, learnt something about Amestris' alchemists, and even had a laugh at his own profile. But all in all he was no closer to unravelling the shroud of mystery surrounding his assailant. He was listed nowhere, had no criminal record, no documented alchemic history, nothing.

He'd found nothing, even in the case files, which would help him determine the why of his actions. They almost seemed random, as if he killed for no real reason, killed whoever was handy at the time, and then left his message. But Edward knew there was a higher purpose, behind his acts of random violence, why else would he attack him, a high ranking officer and the Minister of Internal Affairs. Why else would the Fuhrer's statue have been defamed with their message, 'Alchemists be they for the People.' There must be something he was missing.

He had had one success at least. He'd noticed a relationship between the method of killing and the message left behind. The method of killing changed between events, but at each event where death had come from a single clean wound, a Jack of Spades had been found at the scene along with the message. Combined with his choice of weaponry and the fact that the papers he'd given Winry and the receptionist had a Jack of Spades drawn on the corner of the paper, Ed concluded that he was a part of a group, and that the Jack of Spads was his calling card. Neither conclusions were overly profound or helpful. The only exception was the girl from the other day, but that was not enough to disprove the theory in light of the number of trend setting attacks.

Ed looked down at the card in his hand. It was the card found in the body of the yet to be identified girl. On one side was a Jack of Spades, but on the other the slogan had been written in blood. Sighing into the darkness, he dumped the remaining files on the floor, he hadn't read them for hours anyway, and placed the card on his little table. His failure to find a pattern irked him, but he knew it was no use. He needed to see the crime scenes for himself, continually going over the same facts would tell him nothing.

Sinking down into his pillows, he resolved to get some sleep. Despite his fatigue, sleep was a long time in coming, and was fitful besides. His dreams filled with the spectres of the dead, calling to him, blaming him. It was a mercy when morning finally came.

* * *

Ed was just finishing his breakfast, when Winry came in through the door, lugging a heavy suitcase behind her. Bags under her eyes and a haunted cast to her features belying a long night spent shaping and crafting metal.

'Hey Win, how's it going?'

'Don't.'

'What? I jus-'

'Just don't. I'm too tired to get into this right now. Let's just get this done,' she muttered as a pair of doctors entered the room with a loaded med trolley.

'Wait what the hell are they here for?' asked Ed, eyeing the doctors apprehensively.

'They're here to help with the operation, usually gran or Mr Garfiel are enough to help me, but she's not here, so I had the military add the operation to your medical fees account. Now shut up and roll over.' She ordered, lifting his new arm-port out from her suitcase, and out of its sterilised container. 'Now we're going to give you some pain killers to ease the pain.'

'No, no drugs.'

'But Ed, you know how much this is going to hurt,' replied Winry shock and confusion replacing her weariness.

'No drugs. As sensei would say, this is a lesson, a lesson for my folly in failing to beat my foe. I must endure this, and overcome it. I need to feel in order to learn its lesson.'

'Don't be a fool Ed, you don't have to do this, take the drugs.' Ordered an exasperated Winry.

'No, please Winry, I need to do this.'

Something in his voice must have persuaded her, or maybe it was the fact that she'd seen him do it before, or perhaps even guilt at the loss of his arm, because she relented. She looked at him worriedly for a few seconds before nodding and gesturing for the doctors to start.

Despite his conviction Ed couldn't help but feel a worm of anxiety at the looming approach of Winry and the doctors with their implements and Winry's elaborate auto-mail parts. An anxiety that proved to be well founded, for what followed was every bit as painful and agonising as he remembered it being. He thought that his hardships would have inured him to the pain somewhat, he was wrong. The feeling of cold steel being embedded and melded with your flesh, combined with the unique torment of having each of his shoulder nerves located, separated and connected to the arm port, was, simply put, torture.

Not many people could do what Ed did. Not many people could sit in silence through the barrage of individual agonies that were unleashed on his shoulder. Few could face the feeling of metal scraping bone, of scalpels cutting through flesh, of nerves being pulled and bonded one by one to his new port. In a dim corner of his mind he couldn't help but analyse the procedure, categorise the feelings. The worst part, he decided, wasn't the moment when the nerves were joined to the metal, it was the few seconds when the nerve was first located, grasped and then pulled slightly outwards in order to be able to reach the port. That was the worst.

It was through sheer force of will that Ed made it through the surgery without so much as a whimper. He replayed the receptionist's death, and the Jack of Spades horrific smile, over and over in mind, using it to strengthen his resolve and harden his will. For hours he recited the names of the dead, the way they died; he swore a thousand times over to find the murder, to bring him to justice, using the pain to fuel his anger and rage. The lesson of his failure was learnt well, his will to fight strengthened, his determination solidified. Never again, became his mantra. Never again would life be lost due to his negligence. He would fight, and win, and bring justice.

Winry was amazed, the doctors more so, they'd seen men flinch at the mere memory of the surgery, men who'd all undergone the surgery drugged to the teeth. Yet here was a young man who endured the surgery with no sign other than a few muscular twitches that he even felt the pain, it was astounding. But, eventually, after five hours of surgery, the task was done, the last nerve was attached, and the port was completely bonded to his shoulder. Both Ed and the surgeons could sit back and relax.

Winry and the doctors gave a sigh of relief, all in all it had been a fairly straight forward surgery, with no major complications, and they were confident that the job was done as best as possible. Ed meanwhile simply rolled onto his back, and pushed himself into a sitting position, looking down at the new addition to his body with an almost scientific curiosity.

'How do you feel Mr Elric?' Asked one of the doctors, as Winry pulled a wooden dummy leg out of her suit case and started to tinker with Ed's leg socket.

'Like I've been repeatedly beaten up then had a great metal spike driven into my arm. But other than that I feel fine.' Replied Ed, a bemused twist in mouth.

'Do you feel light headed, or are you having any other side effects?'

'No, I'm fine, trust me I'm aware of the risks involved in this procedure, and I know the possible side-effects, and I can assure you that I'm fine.' He said as he idly watched Winry attach the temporary limb.

'Of course Lieutenant General Elric,' said the other doctor, standing to leave, the honorific causing Winry to look up from her work in surprise, 'We'll leave you to your recovery then, feel free to call for any assistance you require.'

Gathering up their equipment, the two doctors repacked the med trolley and left, as Winry finished the last of the adjustments to Ed's leg.

'Lieutenant General?' inquired Winry in a sleepy tone of voice as she sat on the bed beside him.

'Never mind that for now. You need to sleep, or else Gran will kill me.' Said Ed, moving over on the bed to give room for Winry to snuggle in beside him. An offer which she quickly took, laying her head on the pillow and curling up against his side.

'Ok,' she yawned, 'but you better explain later, and you need to get some sleep as well. I don't care what you say, that surgery took a lot out of you as well.'

'Of course Win,' replied Ed, looking down affectionately at her barely conscious form, 'now worry about yourself and get some sleep, you screw junkie.'

'Shut up, Alchemy freak.' She muttered drowsily, her eyelids falling closed as sleep took over.

Ed spent a few minutes watching her sleep, enjoying the feeling of her pressed up against his side, it was definitely the sort of thing he could get used to. Eventually though he decided that he may as well try and catch up on some sleep as well, he was tired after all. This time it wasn't long before he was mercifully pulled into a deep peaceful sleep.

* * *

Thanks for the reviews so far. Please feel free to review


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of the Fullmetal Alchemist Universe.

* * *

_A few days ago..._

'Hello? Alphonse Elric speaking.' Announced a cheerful voice, into the phone.

'Hello Al, it's Roy.'

'Oh! Hey Colonel Mustang, how are you doing?'

'Yeah I'm fine, listen,' he said, skipping the usual pleasantries, 'we need you to come back to Central.'

'What why?'

'There have been incidents here, the military needs you to come back and help deal with it.'

'What? Why do you need me? Surely you have more than enough manpower in Central to solve it.'

'Well this is sort of a specialist kind of problem; the military thinks that you're suited to the task.'

'But I'm not even with the military.'

'Umm, yes of course not.'

'Besides I have stuff I'm doing here at the moment, I can't just abandon it, talk to Ed, see if he can help you.'

'That's just the thing, Fullmetal's sort of in the middle of it already.'

'... What has he done now?' asked Alphonse in an exasperated tone.

'Oh no, it's not like that. Then again I'm sure he's probably done something stupid lately.'

'Then what's the problem?'

'Well he's in the hospital at the moment, and –'

'Wait he's in the HOSPITAL? What happened is he ok?'

'He'll be ok, we think.'

'You think?'

'Well there was an assassination attempt.'

'What.'

'And he barely made it out it alive...'

*Sigh* 'I'll start heading back tomorrow.'

'Excellent, make sure to make it quick. Bye,' said Mustang, ending the conversation and hanging up the phone, before Al could ask any more questions. Leaning back in his chair, he crossed his hands behind his head, pleased with his accomplishment. He was so thankful that the younger Elric was easier to manipulate than his brother, it made his life so much simpler.

Meanwhile, Al was frantically working his way through the many halls of the Xing Grand palace. He had so much to do! He had to pack up all his stuff, and put together all his notes, and he was going to have to ask Ling if he could borrow some books! Oh damn, Ling! He'd promised the young emperor that he and Mei would attend a feast tomorrow night. Oh crap, Mei! What was she going to say, she'd been looking forward to the after dinner ball! She'd kill him! Crap, crap, crap.

It was a very tired, and overly panicked Al that set out from the Xingese Capital the next day. For some reason Mei had decided to accompany him, he hadn't found out why though, she'd just muttered something about an investment and otherwise ignored him. What's more Ling had decided to send some soldiers with him as an escort, quite nice of him; though Al suspected that it wasn't really overly altruistic and that he'd given them ambassadorial duties to perform in Amestris.

'_This had better be worth it Ed,'_ he thought, glaring at the road in what he believed to be a menacing way.

* * *

_Present day, Fuhrer Grumman's statue_

It had been two days since Ed had been released from the hospital following his implant. He'd started to get used to having an arm port again, and though it occasionally ached, most of the pain had started to disappear. In saying that however, he was starting to get sick of not having an arm; and he couldn't help but feel a little bit vulnerable not being able to quickly perform alchemy. Winry had assured him he'd get his new limbs tomorrow, but he couldn't help but feel a little bit exposed in the meantime.

That wasn't the only thing contributing to his discomfit however. Since his release he'd had an extensive argument with both Mustang and Sheska, who'd been made his personal assistant, about him not wearing military uniform. They hadn't been succeeding in convincing him until the sound of their shouting had woken up Winry, who'd been sleeping on the couch in office, which was serving as his temporary home. She'd drowsily muttered something about how it would make him look handsome, and then promptly fallen back to sleep. Suffice to say that that put an end to the conversation and that he was now wearing the damn thing, much to most of the military's amusement. He hadn't taken their snide comments and snickering in good grace however, and people had soon learnt not to comment on his choice of attire. To make it worse the damn thing itched like crazy.

Meanwhile he'd spent the last two days buried in a pile of paperwork that one of Mustang's goon's had dumped on him. Apparently now that he was out of the hospital he had to start to take care of his division's business. As far as he could tell that meant he had to wade through mountains of forms and reports each week. He'd managed though, well so far anyway, but still this was the first chance he'd gotten to get out of his office and do some actual investigating. He'd managed been able to plan it so that he had the rest of the day to devote to some personal inspecting of the cases. So he'd had Havoc, who was under orders to guard him till he got his arm back, drive him down to the statue of the Fuhrer that had been recently desecrated so that he could do some proper sleuthing.

Glancing around the square as he stepped out of the car, Ed couldn't help but sigh when he saw Mustang, waiting for him in front of the Fuhrer's statue. How did he always know?

'Wow, looks like Boss-man's come out to meet you. And he hasn't brought a guard by the looks of it,' sweat-dropped Havoc, as they walked up to the Flame Alchemist, 'I guess it's up to me to play baby sitter to two obstinate Lieutenant General's then.'

'No need to be sarcastic Second Lieutenant, Fullmetal and I promise we'll protect you if things turn sour.' Murmured Mustang archly.

'What are you doing here shitty col- ahh, what are you doing here.'

'Why I'm just admiring the scenery Fullmetal, thought I'd take a look at our glorious leader's monument. And I must say you're looking very handsome today.'

'Shut your face Mustang. And that's bullshit excuse and we both know it, I don't need you to baby sit me Mustang, why are you really here.'

'I don't know about that Fullmetal you still haven't grown up' came the smug response, 'I thought this would be the best place for us to discuss recent events.'

A loud, 'Hmpf,' was the only reply that he got, as Edward, began to examine the statue in front of him.

It was an eight foot carving of Fuhrer Grumman, standing proudly victorious over an unidentified foe. Or at least it would be if it weren't for the large crack that split him down the middle. Even the plaque on the base of the statue had been violently ripped from its marble base. In its place a new message was hastily scrawled, written in the blood of some poor soul. It now read:

'Alchemists be thy for the people. Be thy by the people. Not to dictate but to serve. Repent your sins and feel the judgement of the people. Or _Amrita_ will bring you to justice.'

'_Amrita_...' whispered Ed under his breath. He was, however loud enough to be heard by Mustang.

'Have you heard of it before?'

'Yes, but I can't remember where, though I don't think it was in this context. _Amrita _here seems to reference some sort of organisation, but I'm positive it has some other meaning.'

'What about the rest of it?'

'Well based on the message, and its location, I'd guess that it's a group that wants to bring down militaristic government. But it could just be a front.'

'Why would they go to that much effort?'

'They're a group that, so far as we can tell, is made up of murderous psychopaths. If they ever need to go public then they'll need to have some sort of cover to make them appealing to the people.' Mused Ed, voicing the fruit of a few days spent brooding in the hospital.

'And what if it's not a front?'

'Then we're forced to make more assumptions. But most likely they're a group of revolutionaries with democratic ideals, perhaps even anarchists.'

'And what's your thoughts on that?'

'It's a noble goal, but it's a pity that their actions don't match that nobility.'

'Careful Fullmetal, it's not seemly for an officer of your rank to make such comments, especially not when you're a minister of said government,' smirked Mustang.

'I've never hidden my views on democracy Mustang. You know that.'

'Well perhaps it would be prudent to mask your beliefs.'

'If the people have to start hiding their beliefs then we really are a dictatorship.'

'So you support this _Amrita_?'

Ed's face twisted in a look of disgust, 'hardly, nothing justifies murder. I may agree with their ideal on a theoretical level, but the moment they decided to achieve it through the killing of innocents is the moment that I turned against them. I just wished they realised that you can never achieve democracy through violence. War begets war. Violence begets violence. By starting this they've doomed themselves. They are undeniably a threat though, the cry for democracy is definitely one that can rouse the people.'

'Perhaps you're right Fullmetal, but we must show the people a united front behind the Fuhrer, for now at least.'

'Alchemists be thy for the people, Mustang. We can't afford to forget that, and must act for the people. If nothing else failure to do so will help fuel this _Amrita_ organisation.' Replied Ed, dusting his legs off as he rose from the spot where he'd been examining the statue.

'Of course it's all conjecture for now, we need more infor-,' started Mustang, only to be cut off at the sound of an explosion in the distance. Looking north, they saw flames and smoke rising above the buildings.

'Oh shit,' swore Havoc, 'what the hell is that.'

'I dare say we'll find out,' replied Mustang turning towards the car Ed had arrived in, 'Havoc take us there, perhaps we'll get another hint of this _Amrita_.'

* * *

A little while later they found themselves at the scene of the explosion. What had presumably been a humble two-story shop/homestead, as was the style in this area, had been ripped nearly in two. The occasional house fire did flare up in Central, but nothing compared to this. The most of the roof had been ripped off the building, scattered across the town in a thousand smouldering pieces. The building itself was just a smoking husk, the windows blown out and half the front of the building collapsed. Inside hadn't faired any better, most of the second floor had disappeared, what was left of it had been rendered inaccessible. The only trace of furniture and decorations a scattering of charred splinters.

Either someone had managed to get their hands on some moderately high grade explosives, or it was the work of an Alchemist. Given recent events, Ed was fairly confident that it was the latter. Usually this type, and level, of destruction was a sign of the Flame Alchemist, or the late Crimson Alchemist, being on a war path. The thought of their being another Alchemist with that level of destructive capability running around was enough to make Ed sweat. The probability that the Alchemist was a member of _Amrita _was enough to fill him with dread.

It hadn't taken them more than a handful of minutes to get to the scene, it being fairly close to the square, but upon arriving, they found second Lieutenant Falman already beginning an investigation.

'Falman report,' ordered Mustang as the trio entered the wreckage.

'Not much to report sir,' he replied in a dour tone, 'it seems as if this was done alchemically as there doesn't seem to be any sign of any detonation device or material, but of course we are not yet sure.'

'How about the people who were here?' asked Ed intently.

'According to our reports this was the home James Vane, a retired state alchemist who went by the title -,'

'The Soul Ripper Alchemist,' said Ed finishing his sentence, thinking back on the files on Alchemists he'd recently read.

'Yes that's correct; he lived here with his grandson.'

'My reports said he also lived here with his granddaughter?'

'His daughter died in the cross fire a few years back when, ahh, Fuhrer Bradley died. Anyway, we've done a preliminary search of the wreckage, and uncovered the body of one adult male, who we presume to be the Soul Ripper Alchemist.'

'Any sign of who did this?' inquired Mustang.

'No sir, we've got men searching the perimeter and asking locals, but we haven't had any leads yet, whoever did this covered their tracks well.'

'Good work, continue the investigation, and report to us with any new information,' then turning to Ed, as Falman saluted and left, 'do you think that this was the work of _Amrita_?'

'Well we can't be sure, but it's probably best we assume it is. It's definitely someone with talent, the Soul Ripper Alchemist was quite feared in his day, I dare say this wouldn't have been easy.'

'Why though? He was an old man, he didn't have any involvement with the military anymore.'

'Perhaps he had some research they wanted, perhaps they wanted to send a message to the state alchemists, maybe they weren't involved at all and this was just the result of some old man experimenting with stuff he didn't understand.'

'Sirs! Lieutenant General Mustang' shouted Falman from another room, 'We've found something.'

Turning the corner they found Falman and a pair of soldiers standing at a trapdoor.

'It's locked sir, and seems to be secure, our man might be in here.' Saluted Falman. 'Shall we break it open?'

'No it'd be quicker if I did it,' replied Mustand, stepping forward and clapping his hands together. Reaching down he placed his hand on the lock, with a flash of blue light the lock cracked in two and fell of the door. 'Havoc, get down there and sound it out, soldiers stand ready, Edward take a step back.'

'Sod off Mustang, you can't order me around, besides I'm hardly an invalid.'

Havoc stepped forward, pulling one of his handguns out of its holster and aiming it at the trapdoor as Falman opened it for him. The moment the door opened a small form jumped out at them, causing Havoc to instinctively fire and jump back. The bullet barely missed its mark, scoring across the scalp of the diminutive adversary. Before anyone knew what was going of the attacker had stepped past the shocked Havoc and leaped, knife first, at Mustang, a hissing sound escaping his lips. Shocked, Mustang didn't have time to react, wasn't even ready to make a flame, he was defenceless to the attack.

The sound of a gunshot cracked through the air, a bullet whistled a hairs-breadth past Ed directly at the attacker. The shooter wasn't trying for a kill shot however; they were aiming for the blade in his hand. Mid-leap the knife was knocked cleanly from the man's hand, the bullet not even hitting his hand or drawing blood. Shocked the small attacker wasn't able to stop, barrelling into the Flame Alchemists stomach, winding him and causing to him to stagger back. The attacker paused for a second to try and comprehend what had happened. The slight pause was all Havoc needed to recover and pounce on him. Grabbing him by the back of the neck he swung out a leg and knocked the man's legs out from under him, smashing him down to the pavement, where he was quickly pinned.

'Let go of me!' yelled the squirming form under Havoc.

Looking down at him, they all felt a momentary stab of embarrassment as they realised that the attacker was just a child. No more than ten years of age, the kid had long unkempt brown hair and shabby clothes that were verging on being rags. Malnourished and not overly clean besides, the kid no longer looked overly threatening.

'Wow Mustang, you just got beaten up by a 10 year old,' laughed Ed, 'So much for Hero of the Eastern rebellion.'

'I didn't see you do much Fullmetal, maybe you're getting slow. You too Havoc, at least Hawkeye's got my back.' Snapped back Mustang gesturing vaguely towards a bell tower, which luckily was located so that it overlooked both this wreckage and the Fuhrer's statue.

'She's got more than you back,' muttered Havoc.

'I'm not the one who got winded by someone half my size,' shouted Ed, far less subtly.

'That's because there isn't anyone half your size!' Taking a deep breath, Mustang visibly collected himself, 'Let him up Havoc, but keep a hold on him.'

Dragging the youth up, Ed saw that his scruffy appearance extended to his gaunt dirt smeared face. The kid had clearly been living it tough for a while. Despite this though his eyes were proud and defiant, burning with hatred as he stared up at the Flame Alchemist.

'What's your name boy?' Asked Mustang as he loomed over the child.

'Stuff you! I'm not telling you anything,' he yelled back in a childish yet firm voice, squirming in Havocs hands in an attempt to escape.

In response Havoc calmly cuffed him on the back of the head, 'I'd be careful what you say there little fella, you should show some respect. Now answer the question.'

'I'm not telling him anything!' mumbled the kid, his eyes still shooting daggers at Mustang.

'Stand down Havoc,' ordered Ed as Havoc rose his hand again, 'Mustang perhaps you should go for now, I'll handle this, and you may as well call Hawkeye down, I doubt anyone's going to try anything with this many soldiers around.'

Mustang stood for a moment, examining the child, as if curious. Eventually however he nodded, and left with Falman and the other soldiers to continue the investigation.

'Now then,' said Ed turning to face the kid, 'why don't you tell me your name?'

'No, you're his friend.'

'Trust me; I dislike that wet matchstick as much as you do' smiled Ed reassuringly.

The kid stared at him for a moment suspiciously, before long though the fight went out of him.

'James, my name's James Vane.'

'The Grandson of the Soul Ripper Alchemist? What happened here?'

The boys face began to darken, trying to hold back the tears appearing in the corners of his eyes, 'bad men came.'

'What bad men?'

'I don't know.'

'Please James, can you tell us what happened?'

Looking up at Ed the boy nodded, clearly drawing together what strength he had left, 'I was with my granddad in lounge room, he wasn't feeling well, he'd been drinking again. He told me that he'd done something bad, and angered some bad people, and that they were going to come for him. Then there was a knock on the door, he pushed me into the basement; made me promise to be quiet, and wait. I heard shouting, and then,' he stopped for a moment to sniff loudly, his voice was becoming progressively softer, 'there was big boom, and the whole room jumped. But I stayed here, I did what he told me, I stayed quiet, and I waited. I... I heard him screaming and... and crying, but I stayed here. Just like he told me,' falling silent he was no longer able to fight back tears, turning away he started to sob quietly.

'Shh it's alright kid, they're gone now and won't be coming back, you're all right,' soothed Havoc, giving the kid an awkward pat on the shoulder.

Ed had been expecting something along those lines, but to hear it was still confronting. Once again he swore to himself that he'd stop this sort of thing.

'Did you see anything else? Hear anything? Is there anything you can tell us about who did this?' he asked.

'No,' sniffed the kid, then he paused looking thoughtful, 'I did hear someone shouting something about something called Amta or something.'

'Was it _Amrita_?'

'Maybe? I think so.' He nodded with a particularly large sniff.

'Ok, good, you've been very helpful James.' Ed said, smiling at the boy, 'Just one more question. Why do you dislike the Flame Alchemist so much?'

The kid's expression went from sad to furious in a flash, angrily he turned his face from Ed to stare in the direction Mustang had left.

'It's his fault Kerri died,' he muttered.

'Wow,' said Havoc whistling through his teeth.

Ed sighed, why was it that the ghosts of previous battles always seemed to hunt them down, even when they did the right thing. Looking down at the kid's gaunt face and shabby clothes, he made his decision.

'Havoc take the kid to Central HQ, give him some food and find him some new clothes.'

'Sir?'

'We owe him that much, wait for me at HQ, I've got some research to do first.'

'If you say so boss,' replied Havoc looking uncertain, before moving off towards the car lightly guiding the kid by the arm.

After a moment, Ed followed him, leaving the wreckage and heading down the street. Trying to put the kid out of his mind, he turned his thoughts to the problem of finding out what _Amrita_ meant and just what it was.

* * *

Drawing in deep on his cigarette, the Jack of Spades walked down the alley way towards his target. Stopping just behind him, he leaned on a wall to wait for him to finish his business and notice him. He didn't have to wait long however, the hulking man known as the Jack of Diamonds soon caught the smell of smoke; dropping what was left of the young woman, he turned to face the newcomer. Standing at 7 foot tall and with more than the muscle mass to match his height, he made an intimidating figure; at least he would to do an ordinary man. An effect that was very much aided by the frayed and blood-splattered cloak he used to completely hide his features.

'A lovely night isn't it friend,' he said companionably, idly toying with his deck of cards.

'You shouldn't have come down here, friend,' rumbled a deep voice menacingly from beneath the man's hooded cowl, 'You've interrupted my playtime. My pretties and I don't like being interrupted.'

Without another word, the man reached up to the opening of his cloak, ripping it open at the chest. The action revealed a flash of blue alchemic light, quickly replaced by a spike of steel shooting from the man's chest towards the Jack of Spades. But he'd been waiting for this; in the last few days he'd done some research on the cloaked man and had learnt much about the man's abilities. He'd even been able to modify his own alchemy to give him the edge.

Taking another puff on his cigarette, he raised his deck slightly, activating his own transmutation circle as he did so. A line of cards shot out of his hands towards the approaching metal spear. The two attacks met in the air, centimetres from the Jack of Spades face, soft cardboard on solid steel. Miraculously the steel was sheered clean in two by the lance of playing cards, the tip of the metallic weapon fell to the ground, useless. They stood there for a moment in silence, connected by a line of cards and steel.

'Now, now, that's no way to treat one of your comrades, is it now,' murmured Spades, withdrawing his cards back to his hand, leaving behind a single card stuck on the end of the metal pike, 'Especially when I'm just trying to help you.'

Clearly surprised and confused, despite being mostly hidden beneath his hood, the Jack of Diamonds also pulled what was left of his attack back to himself. Reaching out a hand he picked up the errant playing card as the metal spike disappeared back under his cloak; quickly drawn shut by some unseen force. He turned the card over, revealing that he held in his hands a Jack of Diamonds, its twin faces crying twin tears of blood.

'What do you want?' he demanded gruffly looking up from the card.

'Why I just want to help you!,' replied Spades in a companionable tone once more, 'I couldn't help but notice your... fascination, with your, ah, pretties.'

'So what?'

'Well it just so happens that we're in a position to do each other a service. And help pursue the goals of the _Amrita _organisation at the same time.'

'How?'

Either he's a man of few words or a man of few thoughts, decided Spades with a smirk. Not that it mattered, he'd do what was wanted of him.

'You've heard of my recent confrontation with the Fullmetal Alchemist yes? And how we've concluded not to kill him? We'll I've decided that even if we can't kill him physically, we can still destroy him emotionally.'

'What's it to me?'

'Well that, my friend, is where you come in. You see the Fullmetal has one of the prettiest pretties with him, and I bet she'd just die for the chance to meet you,' said Jack of Spades, pulling a photo of Winry from his vest pocket, and flicking it over to his Diamond counterpart.

The Jack of Diamonds picked up the photo and began to examine it closely, making strange grunting and moaning sounds as he did so.

'Yes,' he whispered, 'yes she's a very good pretty.'

'So how about it? I can tell you when and where? All you have to do is go in and claim her.'

'Tell me where she is!'

'A good choice. But I can't tell you, not yet anyway, I'll come back when the time is right.'

'No, tell me now or I will destroy you.'

'And then you'll never find out, no, I have business to attend to first, then you may hunt her down. Now if you'll excuse me.' Said Spades with a mocking bow, turning his back on his 'colleague', deliberately showing his lack of fear.

He didn't have far to go, turning into the building at the end of the alley and climbing up the roof. There he found the person he had asked to monitor his conversation with the Jack of Diamonds. She was a tall lady, with neat long brown hair framing a bespectacled and cute face. Neat really was the word to describe her, neat and organised. Not a hair or fold was out of place, from her glossy black high-heels to her modest skirt and blouse to the small folder of notes that she always carried with her. She was the epitome of business like efficiency. She was also the Queen of Hearts_, _making her an extremely dangerous individual, despite her appearance.

She was the first member he'd identified (admittedly having only identified three so far), having spent many years together when they were younger. He'd quickly taken advantage of their shared history to become reacquainted with her and persuade her to join his cause. A task that had been made much easier by the fact that she seemed to harbour some feelings for him, a fact he'd been sure to capitalise on. To her he was her prince charming, and came to her with an offer of a happily ever after. As far as he was concerned, she, and her affections, were just more cards he had up his sleeve.

As he saw her he made sure to check that the amulet he wore around his neck, that he'd alchemically designed to permanently block her alchemy, was still in place. He knew she was too besotted to ever use her alchemy on him, but he also understood what she was capable of, and it was enough to make him take precautions.

'That went well.' She said as he approached.

'I thought so, were you able to make sure that he'll do it?'

'Yes, it wasn't difficult, he was sold the moment he saw the photo, I barely had to do a thing. He isn't overly sophisticated.'

'Yes I noticed.'

'What if he kills her though, I thought you wanted her alive?'

'Oh I don't think Elric would let that happen; but maybe he'll at least manage to wound her, hopefully enough to drive the Fullmetal runt perform That.'

'Do you think he would, are you sure he even can do That?'

'Positive, but this will serve as a test to make doubly sure he can, and if our lumbering friend down there is unable to wound her then at least he'll deal a blow to the military, and possibly to him. Which will help us anyway. But as I told him, first we'll have to wait, we have no hope of him doing That if he can't even perform alchemy.'

'So we wait?'

'Yes, for now we wait, but we'll strike as soon as possible.'

'And then? After this plan of yours?' She asked, watching the sunrise start to peak its way over the buildings of Central.

'And then, my dear we'll know that we can be together forever. And we'll finally be able to make our move,' he said placing his arm around her and drawing her to him, ostensibly as a sign of affection, but in reality it was to hide the cruel smile that came over his face. What a pitiable fool this woman was, he couldn't wait for the day he no longer had need of her. The day when he achieved absolute power.

* * *

As always, I encourage review. So please feel free to review.


	5. Chapter 5

Ok, I've finally finished this chapter! Sorry for taking so long to update, I stupidly decided it would be a good idea to try and keep up with my readings for uni...

It's a bit longer than I intended, and starts a bit slow, but stick with it and please review.

Disclaimer: I know nothing of the Fullmetal Alchemist universe.

* * *

_2 days later, Central Headquarters, Lieutenant General Mustang's office_

Roy sat alone in his office; Riza was out making arrangements for a trip out to Eastern Command that they were taking, so he was free to spend the first few hours of his day however he wanted. Naturally he'd spent his time compiling a list of possible titles he could go by when eventually he became Fuhrer. He'd been at it for a while, and was on the verge of deciding on _The Flame Fuhrer, _when Havoc barged into his office, dragging behind him the kid they'd found at the Soul Ripper Alchemist's house.

Hastily hiding his list under one of the many piles of paper on his desk, he turned to address his subordinate.

'What are you doing here Havoc? Aren't you supposed to be looking after Fullmetal?'

'No sir,' saluted Havoc almost mockingly, 'he's getting his arm back this afternoon, and is spending the day at Central Command, so he dismissed me.'

'He dismissed you?'

'Well actually he told me to 'sod off back to that perverted ex-colonel' but I believe that a dismissal was the gist of his order.'

'Hmmpf, well there's no point in you guarding him anymore I suppose. What's with the boy though?' asked Mustang, glancing down at the 10 year old who'd been death staring him since entering the room.

'Ed says that he's your problem now sir; said something about it only being fair that you're the one who looks after him.'

Mustang had of course been informed of the reason for the boy's dislike of him, and realised that for once the Fullmetal pipsqueak was probably right. It was his responsibility, even if he was the worst person for the job.

'He doesn't have any other family?'

'No sir.'

'Friends? Well-wishers?

'No sir.'

'So we're stuck with him then.'

'Looks like it.'

'OYE! Stop talking about me like I'm not here.' Piped up James, pointedly looking only at Havoc, 'There's no way that I'm going to be staying with HIM.'

'Oh yes you will,' said Mustang, looking down at the boy, 'and you're going to obey my every order too.'

'Piss off.'

'Havoc if you would,' prompted Mustang, causing Havoc to slap the kid on the back of the head. 'And you're going to show me proper respect.'

'No,' replied the kid slightly less insolent tone, clearly wary of Havoc.

'Yes you will. And do you know why? Because if you don't behave yourself and do as you're told, then there won't be a use for you. And if there isn't a use for you, do you know what will happen?' he asked looming over the child, his voice uncaring.

Despite his hatred for the man, the boy couldn't help but be slightly daunted by the Flame Alchemist intensity. 'No?'

'If you can't do anything for me, then there won't be a place for you here, I'll put you on the streets, and leave you to rot. So it's your choice, you can either stay here and obey me, and get free food and lodging, or you can to continue to back mouth me and be sent off to the streets to starve and die of disease. Your choice.' Roy said coldly, meeting James' hate filled stare.

His dark tone, and darker reputation, was enough to convince James that he'd do it. He spared a glance at Havoc, his eyes pleading for some kind of support, but sadly he found none. Looking back at Mustang, the kid made a hard choice. He hated Mustang, he really did, he hated him for what had happened to his sister. But deep down he knew he'd have to swallow his hate for now, he had to accept the deal with his nemesis.

'Fine.'

'I'm sorry what was that?' asked Mustang as Havoc cuffed the kid again.

'Yes sir! May I –,' with a visible effort James managed to avoid chocking on the next part, 'May I please serve under you sir?'

'Good, perhaps there's some hope for you yet. Now run along and find Sergeant Major Fuery and have him get some more suitable clothes for you.' Ordered Mustang dismissively, turning his attention back to Havoc. James stood there a moment, quelling some sort of internal conflict, before eventually giving up and following his orders.

'Don't you think you were a bit harsh on the kid? What if he'd have pulled your bluff?' Observed Havoc once James was gone.

'He's ten and thinks I'm a monster, he thinks I'm capable of killing him where he stands. And no, I don't think I was too harsh, boys like that need firm words, and strong lessons.'

'Fair enough, what are you going to do with him?'

'Ha!' laughed Mustang a smile coming to his face, 'you know what? I was thinking that that would be you and Fuery's problem.'

'Sir?' chocked Havoc clearly horrified.

'Fullmetal gave him to me, so I'm giving him to you. He's your problem now, look after him, make sure he eats and does all that. At least make sure he's alive when I get back.'

'But sir we're soldiers, not nursemaids! We shouldn't be playing babysitter! And what do you mean sir? Where are you going?'

'Don't care Havoc,' replied Roy, his smile becoming slightly more vicious, 'An order's an order. I hope you have fun with him. As for me, I'm heading to East command today, I have some business there.'

'Sir this isn't fair!'

'Too bad Havoc, this is the military, it's not meant to be fair. Think about it this way, it'll be good recovery exercise for you running around a young boy. Doesn't that make you feel better?'

'Not at all! I've already spent the last few days doing that.'

'Exactly you're exceedingly qualified, now I have things to prepare,' dismissed Mustang, 'So if you'll be so kind as to see to your charge.'

Havoc left the door, barely managing to hold back his enraged retorts behind clenched teeth and a locked jaw. What had he done to deserve this sort of thing? Why was it always him? His mother was right, he should have stayed a goods supplier.

* * *

_That afternoon_

The Jack of Diamonds shuffled his way into the alley where the man that had promised him a new pretty to play with. He'd received the message this morning, today was the day he'd been promised. Today he'd get a new pretty, the pretty; he'd find her, and chase her, and then he'd have his fun. He was shivering with excitement. Looking down at the picture of her in his hand, he couldn't help the small giggle of delight that escaped his lips. He was looking forward to this so much that it was painful.

True to his word, he found the man where he said he'd be waiting for him. He stood there comfortably in his neat business clothes, toying with his deck of cards, as a clear reminder that it wouldn't be worth trying to force information. This one worried him; he worried what he was capable of. He could cut metal with cardboard as if it was butter; it was an ungodly act, clearly the work of a demon. Alchemy was fine, it made you stronger, but cardboard could not cut metal. Metal was strong, cardboard was weak. For the Jack of Diamonds that was all there was to it, at least it should of been. But the card-man changed that rule; he made cardboard strong and metal weak. It was evil, and he hated the card-man for it.

But the man claimed he could bring him to the pretty, and so he'd put up with him for now, put up with his sly looks, smug expressions and evil perversion of alchemy. He'd have time to come back for him later after all. It would feel so good to teach the man the strength of his steel, to show the man that he stronger than anyone else. But of course, the pretty had to come first. His love must come before his hate, it was how these things worked.

'Good to see you came, friend. Are you ready to see your pretty?' asked the man, the smug voice making him want to rip out the man's throat.

'Tell me where.'

'I'll do you one better, I'll take you to where she is, and then all you have to do is go and get her.'

'You won't interfere.'

It wasn't a question but a statement, a threat.

'No, no, she's all yours, if you can get her anyway. I just want you to have... fun. Now come, she waits.' Smiled the man over his shoulder, gesturing that he should be followed.

Tagging along behind the man, the Jack of Diamonds felt a new wave of giddy excitement build up inside him. It was always like this, when he started the hunt; the hammering of his heart, the knot of excitement in his chest, the anticipation of finding and catching his pretty, it was pure ecstasy. It was the thrill of the hunt, oh how he loved it.

To his delight the feeling this time was more powerful than it had ever been; it was all consuming in its intensity, seeming to replace all other thoughts in his head. A cloud of animalistic desire descended over his mind, blocking all but the most basic of thoughts. It wasn't long before all his idle musings of killing the man guiding him were gone, completely replaced with thoughts of his new prey. Right now she was all he could think about; he cared about nothing else, could not care about anything else. Nothing mattered more than the hunt, than the prey.

* * *

Winry leaned back in her chair, sighing in relief as she dragged her hand across her sweaty forehead. It was finally done, it had taken her days of backbreaking work, but she was finally finished, Ed's automail was complete. Light and flexible, yet stronger than any of her previous designs she was proud to declare it her finest work yet. It was masterful, beautiful, perfect, everything she dreamed of in an automail limb. It was such a shame that Ed would probably trash it in a week. It was enough to bring a tear to her eye.

_Well I'm just going to have to make sure that doesn't happen then aren't I._ She thought to herself with a coy smile, daydreams of ways he could be distracted drifting into her mind. They were quickly displaced however, by a blush and a shake of her head. This wasn't the time or the place to be thinking about THAT; she had a job to do after all.

Standing up, she pulled back her arms in a stretch, cracking her vertebrae and rolling her shoulders to remove the tension built up from hours spent bent over her workbench. She just had to attach the limbs, and she was done! Assuming that is that he'd be able to work the arm. Understandably they were a bit unsure about whether he'd need to relearn to use the automail or not, given that this was an unprecedented situation and all. Ed was positive that he could, but Winry wasn't so sure. She'd seen enough people take up a new automail arm to know that the transition wasn't easy, no matter what the circumstances.

_I guess we'll know once I've attached it, _she thought as she placed the limbs and her tools in a bag, _he better not be busy, I want to hurry up and get this over with._

Laden with her tools and automail, Winry began the long trek up to Ed's office on the top floor.

_However much I'm getting paid for this, it's not enough._

* * *

'Here we are, friend,' announced the Jack of Spades to his colossal companion, 'she's just in there.'

As he made this declaration he gestured towards Central HQ, his flippant manner suggesting that the presence of the army base was of no real concern. Upon seeing the location of his prey, warning bells started to go off in a dim recess of Diamond's mind. However, by this point he was so utterly consumed by thoughts of his 'pretty' that he no longer cared about, or even registered, the danger.

Letting out a guttural grow of satisfaction, he began to shamble mindlessly towards the front gate.

'My sources say she'll be on the top floor, in Fullmetal's office,' called out Spades after him helpfully, before realising that the directions might not be simple enough, 'The big room on the top floor to the east, overlooking the courtyard.'

All he got in reply from the hulking man was another grunt, he was completely lost to the hunt now, ready to fight, ready to kill. Nothing else mattered.

His single-mindedness caused Spades to raise an eyebrow in amusements,_ Queen of Hearts really knows what she's doing. I wonder if he'll even be able to feel his death._

Lighting up a new cigarette, he turned his back on Central HQ and the imminent attack, walking away down the street. He'd done his part; there was nothing more he could or would do now. He had other cards in play that he had to check up on.

_So much to do, so little time, _he thought, _No one appreciates just how hard it is to create chaos._

* * *

Ed was in his office, filling out yet more forms that Sheska had produced for him, when a blonde tornado burst into the room. Bustling around the room in a businesslike manner, she quickly cleared it of Ed's underlings; calmly ignoring ranks as she liberally gave out orders for them all to clear off. In a matter of minutes Ed found himself sitting on the couch, in nothing but his boxers, much to his embarrassment. Winry seemed oblivious to his discomfit however, and was seemingly focused on attaching his leg. He had to fight very hard, filling his head with the most disgusting of thoughts, to prevent himself from having a reaction that would be all too visible when he sat there in nothing but his boxers. The fact that she'd situated herself between his legs didn't help matters.

'Jeez Winry, you could have at least given me some warning before you stormed in here.' Reaching for anything to distract himself from her proximity.

'Oh please, what could you possibly have been doing that couldn't wait.' She said placing a warm hand on his thigh to brace his leg against the automail insertion. The contact was enough to stain Ed's face crimson and make sweat pour down his face.

'I've got some very important stuff to take care of!' declared Ed indignantly, looking away to hide his blush. Because of this he didn't see the coy, satisfied smirk that Winry gave him as she repositioned her hand in an even more suggestive spot. Suppressing a giggle of amusement as his face turned an even darker shade of red; she turned back to her work.

'More important than spending some quality time with an old friend, AND getting your arm and leg back?' she asked archly.

'Ah, no of course not, I enjoy your company,' _really really enjoy your company, _he thought as he looked down at her hand. It really was too much; its soft warmth was spreading a heat along his thigh. The sight of the gentle curves of her face framed by her silky blonde hair encouraged the spread of the all too pleasurable warmth, adding to his discomfit. He was already reacting to it, he couldn't let her know what effect she was having on him, he needed to find something to distract him fast, 'but maybe I at least could work while we do this?'

'No I need you paying attention, to make sure that it's all working.' She frowned, deliberately blocking his attempts to remove himself from the situation, she was determined to have fun with this, 'not sitting there looking at reports on the latest gossip.'

'Oh please, what could go wrong I'm sure you've done a good job.' Frowned Ed, reaching for a nearby folder. His efforts resulted in a wrench appearing out of nowhere, wrapping the back of his hand. He quickly with drew his chastised hand; at least the pain provided him a distraction, and she'd taken her hand off his leg.

'Don't be so flippant Ed, this is serious stuff,' she scolded, secretly flattered by the compliment.

'The customers always right! Or don't you learn that in Screw Academy?'

'Yes but you're always wrong so the two cancel out, now stop squirming or I'll have to hold you down.' Thoughts about the ways Winry could try and hold him down were enough to quiet his mouth, while stirring another reaction elsewhere. He desperately started to search for ways to distract himself; in his anxiety he didn't see Winry the appreciative glance Winry surreptitiously gave his half naked form.

'Can I at least talk?' he asked, bring them both back to reality.

'Well you don't seem to be stopping so I don't really have a choice do I,' she teased.

'If I had my reports I wouldn't be talking.'

'So you don't want to talk to me?'

_If I'm talking to you, I'm thinking about what you're doing! _He thought, instead of saying this however, he decided to roll his eyes and play along with the argument. 'You're the one trying to get me to shut up.'

'Then shut up.'

'Fine.'

For a few minutes there was silence between them as Winry continued to work on Ed's leg, occasionally sneaking a peak up at exposed chest or at the amusing look on his face. For Ed's part, he focused with all his might on the book case on the opposite end of the room. Reciting the first chapter of _Dousing flames with Alchemy, _in his head to stop him from thinking about the beautiful young blonde sitting between his legs. Eventually though, Winry decided to break the silence; asking something that had been bothering her for a while.

'Ed,' she asked, breaking the silence, 'why did you rejoin the military?'

'Mustang.' Said Ed shortly, still resolutely staring forward.

'What?'

'It was Mustang, he did his usual thing and manipulated me into it.'

'How? Why?'

'Why?' asked Ed, as if not understanding the question, 'I'm the Fullmetal Alchemist. Of course he'd want me.'

Something about the way he said it, as if it was the simplest fact in the world, grated on Winry's nerves. Standing up, she calmly swiped him over the head with her wrench.

'Bad. Don't be arrogant. Now answer me properly.' She ordered the injured Alchemist as she knelt back on the floor.

'Jeez Win, I wasn't being arrogant it's true,' he muttered, quickly continuing when he noticed her hefting her wrench again, 'look at the facts! I'm one of the most famous alchemists, the people love me, the army respects my ability, and I know more about alchemy than anyone else in the military. What's more Mustang knows me, he knows what I'll do; he can predict me and use me. I'm a useful tool for him, and the Fuhrer, why wouldn't they want me?'

'But why did you accept,' grudgingly admitting in her mind that he was right.

There was silence for a moment, as Ed considered the question. Should he tell her the reason? Should he tell her that he did it to save people, that he was finally high enough in the military to actually do something substantive, that he couldn't turn down the opportunity. Should he tell her that if he didn't agree to join, that he'd know nothing about _Amrita_? That if he hadn't re-enlisted, he wouldn't be able to protect her? With a flash of insight Ed realised that that was what it came down to. It wasn't to save the country, nor even to help people, well not primarily anyway, those were just added bonuses. What it really was, was the ability it gave him to protect her. Simple as that. He did it for her. The real question now though was: should he tell her that?

'Umm, it's complicated,' he muttered, turning his face away in an attempt to hide the slight blush that rose in his cheeks.

'Hold still for a moment, I just need to connect the nerves,' muttered Winry as she positioned herself to support his leg. This was one of the worst parts; the sudden jolt of your nerves being connected to the steel limb was like being struck by lightning. It had nothing on the actual surgery of course, but it was by no means pleasant.

_At least it's brief, _he thought, flinching in pain as he felt the sudden rush of feelings coming from his leg. It passed quickly though, and after a few quick mobility tests they were back in position for Winry to work on his arm. Her new spot by his side relieving some, if not all, of his previous worry; that was at least until she placed a 'bracing' hand on his chest.

'Well you've got plenty of time to explain it to me now,' nudged Winry, enjoying the feel of his muscular chest beneath her hand more than she'd care to admit.

'I told you it's complicated,' replied Ed, deciding that it wasn't worth the risk of her not appreciating the sentiment. She didn't like him thinking that he needed to protect her after all. He wasn't wussing out; he was just being considerate of her feelings.

'Ed do you really want me to hit you twice in one examination?'

'I –,' he was cut short by the sound of a distant explosion. It wasn't a large explosion, but in Central HQ any explosion at all was too large.

'What the hell was that?' He yelled, in an effort to call out to the men posted to his door.

'Sir!' came the response from a young sergeant shoving his head through the door, 'we've got a report of someone attacking Central Command.'

'Some-ONE, sergeant?'

'Yes sir, he's some sort of alchemist sir.' Yelled the officer, as another explosion shook the building.

'Send some state alchemists, and infantry in as a counter attack, don't let him get into the compound.'

'Yes sir, Lieutenant General Armstrong is leading a counterattack as we speak sir.'

'Goodman, stay guard outside, I'll be out as quickly as possible.' Ordered Ed, the ease with which he made the change into a commander astonishing Winry. It was almost as surprising, if in a more enjoyable way, as the continuing barrage of explosions. 'Winry attach my arm as quickly as possible.'

Shocked by his request, Winry gave him a look as if to say he was stupid, 'No, if you go out there you'll get hurt.'

'If I don't get out there others will get hurt,' gritted Ed, the seriousness of his expression brooking no disagreement.

Looking into his eyes Winry decided that it would be best if she complied. That look said that if she didn't attach it then he'd go out there without it. Perhaps by the time she was done it'd be over. A small hope from the sounds of screams and gunshots coming from below, especially given the fact that Ed new the procedure almost as well as she did, he'd know if she wasn't going as fast as she could. With a last look into his determined eyes, she sighed and got to work.

* * *

Lieutenant General Alex Louis Armstrong bounded down the stairs to the source of the explosion, easily outpacing the handful of soldiers he had gathered on his way. Charging down the stairs, he yelled orders at any and all soldiers that he passed, telling them to assume defensive positions or to follow him depending on their location. He didn't bother to stop and see if his commands were obeyed, the battery of explosions convincing him that he was needed quickly.

In his position as Minister for War, he'd posted almost all combat alchemists to the front lines to the North and South, believing that Central command would be safe from attack. That decision was now coming back to haunt him; the only three combat-able alchemists posted in Central was himself, the Flame and Fullmetal. It was usually a more than formidable force to be sure, but at the moment they were severely undermanned. Fullmetal wasn't fit for a fight at the moment, and the Flame had left earlier today for Eastern Command. That left defence of Central his responsibility, it's safety was on his honour. He'd crush the invader with the might of the battle alchemy that had been honed over generations of Armstrong alchemists!

It didn't take long for him to find his foe; coming across him as he brutally dispatched the last of a blockade of guards, shooting a grenade at them from under a heavily cloaked arm. The shroud hiding his features covered his entire body, revealing almost nothing of the man beneath. The most that he was able to tell was that they were of a similar height and body build; which was a realisation that lit up his heart with glee. A worthy foe! At last it had been to long since he'd honed his skills against a proper opponent.

'Halt where you are!' he yelled, flexing all his upper body muscles simultaneously so that he exploded out of his shirt. His face and muscles sparkled with the fervour of his declaration, 'You have the honour of fight me now! Prepare to feel the might of Alex Louis Armstrong, the Strong-Arm Alchemist!'

The hulking form slowly turned its head towards him, seeming to regard him for a moment before lifting its arm and almost casually firing a grenade at him. Alex was prepared however, dropping to a knee he quickly transmuted the stone in the floor, sending a lance of rock shooting out from the ground. The stone shaft hit its mark with the accuracy of a generations long line of superb marksmen; piercing through the grenade halfway through its ark, leaving it to fall to the ground, unexploded and impotent.

'I am no ordinary foe! Prepare to be crushed by the alchemy that has been in the Armstrong family for generations!' He boomed, transmuting the ground to form a line of spikes that jutted out towards the intruder. The final, and largest spike, was close enough to directly attack the man; shooting out from the ground at his stomach, in an attempt to skewer him. The spear of rock hit its mark, cutting through the cloak directly to the man's bowel. With a slight grunt the man collapsed on spike, his breathing laboured.

'Well done sir! You got him!' said one of the soldiers he'd brought with him. Alex however knew that this was not the case, he'd been in too many battles to think this was over yet.

'Not yet he blocked it somehow, he's just winded. Stay back and allow me to finish him off.' Directed Armstrong, cracking his knuckles in front of him as he stepped forward to continue the fight.

No sooner had he stepped forward than his foe lifted his arm from his position atop the spike and blindly fired a series of grenades. Armstrong's reflexes kicked in and he once more skewered the grenades coming at him on his stone lances. There was a pause as they all listened to the sound of metal clinking on to the ground, the ominous sound of errant grenades falling to the floor. A series of small explosions ripped through the corridor, causing a cloud of dust and cement chips to fill the air. The screen of rubble creating a mist that surrounded him, reducing visibility to next to zero.

There was an eerie pause, as Alex strained his ears, listening for any sign of his foe moving. Maybe it was the ringing in his ears from the explosions, but he heard nothing, there was no sound coming from his foe, the only sound he could hear the nervous shuffling of the soldiers behind him. And then he heard it, the solid ka-thunk of a grenade being fired. Letting instinct guide him, Armstrong twisted on the spot, swinging down and punching the projectile into the ground in one smooth motion. At the same time he activated a transmutation circle he'd hidden on his foot, using it to open a crevice in the floor, into which he drove the explosive. He was barely quick enough; before he was able to seal the hole and take his arm away the grenade blew. The metal gauntlet on his fist was just enough to contain the blast, but not enough to stop it from sending a jarring tremor up his arm. Grinding his teeth against the pain, he slowly pulled back into a crouch, cradling his charred and broken fist.

Before Alex had a chance to catch his breath, he sensed someone appear behind him, a presence all but radiating killing intent. He quickly rose up and spun on the spot to face his foe. As he turned he saw that the man was pointing his grenade-launcher arm directly at him, without thinking Alex swung his fist, knowing only that he had to stop that attack.

By some fluke of fate, his blow collided with the barrel of the weapon beneath the cloth of the man's cloak, his steel-encased fist blocking the barrel. This didn't stop the hulking man however, stupidly he decided to try and fire the shot. A high-speed grenade was propelled into the immovable wall of Armstrong's overly muscled fist. The resulting explosion's shockwave enough to break Alex's fist; leaving him with two broken hands. Through sheer force of will and a staggering strain of his muscles he managed to keep his fist in place against the explosion. The blast was left nowhere to go, and the brunt of the explosion was tunnelled back up the barrel to its original source. What happened next was a blur. The flame from the explosion travelled back to the man's stock of grenades, simultaneously triggering them and causing them to explode.

Fortunately for Alex however, the cache of grenades had been located on the man's back, meaning that the man's imposing body acted as a shield for the major, protecting him from any harm from the blast. Unfortunately, for them both, the sheer number of grenades the man had been carrying was enough to create a blast strong enough to fling the man into Armstrong and smash them both through the wall.

The explosion had blown them into the courtyard, a large open spaced arena in which they could continue their fight. Grunting at the pain in his hands and at what he suspected was several broken ribs; Armstong pushed himself up off the ground, eyeing his foe as he too rose. The man's cloak was in tatters, the force of the explosion either ripping it to shreds or setting it alight.

Looking at him Armstrong understood why he wore the cloak, and realised how the man had managed to survive both the spike of stone and the massive point blank explosion that had driven them through the wall. Most the man's form was covered in what he guessed to be about an inch of liquid steel. It flowed freely around his body, pulsing slightly with in a mockery of a heartbeat, making it seem almost alive.

_This must be his alchemy, _thought Armstrong, _he must be making the metal cling to him like that, I was wondering why the reports said he was an alchemist, he must have been using it as a shield. Or as a weapon. _

The thought was worrying to say the least, and for a moment he felt a stab of uncertainty as he realised that he had no idea how to defeat such a foe. This apprehension only intensified when he looked at the man's face. It was dominated by an oversized nose, shadowing his almost lipless mouth and ludicrously prominent brow. Overall his face gave the distinct impression that the man lacked even the vaguest glimmer of intelligence. The fact that the man was clearly an alchemist made this conclusion seem unlikely, but the crazed look in his eyes said otherwise. It was a look that Armstrong had rarely seen, but it was not the look a man forgets, it was the look of blood rage, battle lust, of a man who had completely lost himself to the fight. The look of a man who would stop at nothing.

_God knows what he's capable of, _thought Armstrong, he'd seen men do incredible, if horrific, things with that look on his face. The thought of an alchemist in that state was enough to make his blood run cold. Despite his reservations though, he couldn't stand down. The last thing he could ever do was back down for a fight. He'd done it once before in Ishval and since then he'd sworn to never again disgrace his family's honourable name. He'd never be able to forgive himself; it would permanently mark him as a coward and a failure. He must be worthy of his rank, of his family, and of the generations of Armstrong military tradition.

Smashing both of his broken fists to the floor, he sent out another wave of spikes, this time however the attack diverged around the target before it hit, surrounding the man in a ring of growing stone spears. The stone spikes quickly grew to head height, and then branched out, each spike suddenly developing thousands of smaller thorns, all them seeking to pierce the man's steel armour.

With an enraged roar the man activated an unseen transmutation circle. His entire form started to glow with alchemic power, his metal armour whirled and distorted around his figure, extending out from his form and moulding into a new shape. Within moments, the liquid metal had solidified into pair of thick blades growing from his arms. With the grace of a wild beast, the man lashed out at the attacking stone spikes, smashing them into pieces and freeing himself from the momentary annoyance.

Armstrong knew his attack would not be enough, doubted even that it would be enough to leave a scratch. It had been a diversion, nothing more; an opportunity for him to close the distance between them. Charging and leaping into the air, Alex raised his arms above his head, intending to deliver a killing blow to his foes exposed head. A powerful battle cry ripped from his lungs, as he swung his arms with all his strength. But then, nothing. His arms suddenly lost their strength, his eyes started to feel heavy, and his mind became fuzzy.

The sound of the man's brutish laughter rang in his ears. Dimly he could feel the pain of metal blades piercing through his flesh, but it was secondary to the sudden overwhelming lethargy he felt in his limbs. His arms and legs felt so heavy, it seemed like such an effort to think, such an effort to stay awake, he just wanted to close his eyes and sleep. The last thought that flickered across his mind before the darkness smothered him, a gut-wrenching acknowledgement of his complete and utter failure.

* * *

_Ed's room_

'There, done! All the connections are made, now don't you go destroying it! And be careful with it, you can't be sure about how well you can move your arm.' said Winry with a sigh, putting down her wrench and leaning back on her heels.

'Excellent, well done Winry,' muttered said Ed distractedly, standing up and quickly scrambling into his clothes, barely stopping to test his arm, 'I need to get out there and see what's happening.'

As if summoned by his words, a sergeant suddenly opened the door and walked in.

'Sir! We've just received a report, Lieutenant General Armstrong has been defeated. Med teams are currently operating but are unsure of the outcome. The alchemist is still on a rampage through the HQ and is headed this way!'

_How the hell did this guy take down Armstrong? That guy's a man mountain! _Is what Ed thoughy, shock warring with fury in his chest. Outwardly however he kept his calm,'Good man, increase the guard around this room, and see if you can lure him away from this room to the great court. Get him into the open and I can stop him.'

'Sir, we're barely able to slow him down, he appears to be in a berserker ra-urgh' reported the sergeant, trailing off in a deathly gurgle as a long steel spike emerged from his chest.

As quick as it had come, the spike disappeared once more, causing the unlucky sergeant to slump to the floor, no longer able to support his own weight. In his place appeared the daunting form of the man Ed presumed was the intruder. Cleaning the blood off of his weapon with a long slow lick, the man's insane eyes twinkled as he savoured the taste. His eyes turned to the rooms shocked occupants, widening as they fell on Winry.

'Pretty, MINE!' He screamed at the top of his lungs as he lunged forwards, a metal blade forming from his arm and extending out to attack Winry.

Ed was beyond the point of fear or surprise, at the death of the sergeant, he'd lost any thought he'd entertained of going easy on the intruder. But when the man had the audacity to dare to attack Winry, the person he cared for above even himself, his mind had exploded in an all consuming white rage. But then something strange happened. Something seemed to click in his mind, and all of a sudden he stood before the gate again, except this time it was larger and more intimidating than it had ever been before.

In his rage he reached out to it and smashed his fists against it. The gate responded, cracks extended out across the door from the point of his fist, a small hole forming where he'd hit. The hole went all the way through the door, revealing the other side. Except this time it did not show him knowledge, nor did it reveal a writhing mass of souls competing for escape. This time it contained a lone person, standing calmly observing Ed, an angry and serious expression on his face. Incredulously Ed stared through the gate, at his father.

'No more death,' said Hohenheim, his golden eyes burning with uncharacteristic rage, 'take my gift and do what must be done.'

And then suddenly he was back in the real world. No time had passed, the nameless man still attacked, and Winry was still in danger. Pushing aside his confusion as to what had just happened, Ed acted.

Clapping his hands together he reached out and caught the point of the spear with his fleshy hand. But it did not cut through his skin as it had the sergeant, instead at his touch the metal stopped and melted into a liquid around his hand. As the metal melted, it drew in more and more of the steel spike, until most of the weapon had been taken, leaving but a stump at the end of the attacking man's arm. The metal melded to Ed's skin, a mimic of his opponent's technique.

Not wasting a moment, Ed clapped his hands transmuting his metal arm once again. The metal convulsed into a new shape, slicing through the floor to latch onto a metal pipe. As soon as he'd made contact, he transmuted it, using the now abundant source of metal to fashion a weapon. The floor cracked open in front of the hulking, steel clad alchemist, a giant metal fist appearing and delivering a devastating blow on the unsuspecting brute. The sheer size of the fist, and force of the blow was enough to send the man flying through the air, crashing through the hallway and out, once more into the Grand Court.

'Ed, Ed are you ok?' asked Winry, before her voice took on a softer quavering tone, 'you didn't... is he?'

'No I didn't kill him Win, he'll survive that, that metal casing of his liquefied under the blow, distributing the force of the impact. Ingenious really, I dare say he's already getting up again ready for more' replied Ed, in a detached almost scientific voice. Walking over to the hole that had been made in the wall, Ed looked down at the man already struggling to rise in the courtyard beneath him.

'What are you going to do now?'

'Winry, just before, you asked me why I rejoined the military.' Stated Ed quietly as he alchemically removed what was left of the metal on his arm.

'Yeah?'

'My reason is simple,' he said softly turning to face her, the seriousness in his golden eyes captivating her own cerulean ones. The intensity of that gaze made her heart rush to her throat, 'It's you. I joined to protect you, from people like him. So that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to make sure that you, and everyone else here, will be safe from him.' And with that he turned away and stepped through the hole, transmuting a staircase for himself as he did so.

Winry watched him head down, on stairs that disappeared behind him. Observing him as he confidently strode down to fight the homicidal alchemist. She could feel a blush in her cheeks, and a frantic beating in her chest that was caused by something much more deeper, stronger and far more pleasurable than fear. Looking down she once again couldn't help but wonder at how broad his shoulders had become.

* * *

As always, I encourage and seek all forms of review!


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry that it took... well an age to update... I hit a block with the story... several times... Anyway, for those of you who are actually still reading this, here it is!

Disclaimer - I own nothing of the fullmetal alchemist universe

* * *

Ed strode confidently down the alchemy-wrought stairs towards his iron clad foe. It was strange, the alchemy just seemed so effortless. In the past it had always been as if he'd been forcing the matter to do as he wished, using brute force to make objects bend to his will. But at the moment, it was just so simple; as if he'd shed weights that had been holding him back, preventing him from applying the full force of his mind, limiting the power at his disposal. But now, now it was different. Now he felt a raging torrent of alchemic energy at his command, an untold well of potential ready to make his will come true. Alchemy took no more effort than thinking, he merely unleashed the damn of power inside of him, and it was done. The feeling was empowering, it was intoxicating, and it was incredible.

He just felt so alive. He could see everything sharper, clearer; hear the slightest sound, feel the slightest shift of fabric on his chest, smell the faintest smells. It was like his senses had been magnified a hundred-fold, but what was more, he could _see _the alchemical shifts around him. _Feel _the potential. It was as if another world had been imposed on his, like he'd been given another sense. He knew how everything worked together, how alchemy worked as a system, what a slight change here would affect everything it came into contact with.

_All is one, and one is all. I am the one, and I am the all. _He thought, with a flash of insight. He'd thought he'd understood alchemy before, but now he realised that he'd known nothing. In the past he'd always thought on a small scale, thinking of how a fire affected the oxygen in the air, or the wood on which it burnt. Now he could see the bigger picture, understand how it all worked together. The way chains of energy connected everything from the smallest ant to the tallest mountain. Links of energy that he could manipulate and bend at will; sources of power he could control and direct; huge changes that he could affect with the slightest manipulations. And underlying all of this was the knowledge that he had the power to change anything he wanted.

_This is Alkahestry, _he thought, remembering something Mei had once said about the way everything was connected. _No, that's not right, this is something more. The raw power of Alchemy combined with the finesse of Alkahestry, and then boosted by something else. What have I done? What's causing th-_

His chain of thought was abruptly interrupted by a guttural roar of rage bellowed out from the giant before him. _No time for that now, I have a task to complete._

'Surrender, I don't want to hurt you,' ordered Ed calmly in a strangely empty voice. But the man was too far gone to listen to reason.

With an animalistic roar the man transmuted the metal on his arm, causing his arm to disappear beneath a battery gun barrels. Raising the weapon at Ed he unleashed a volley of automatic guns and fired, his crazed scream not so much as quavering.

Ed new this was coming, he could see the way the metal was shaping even as the transmutation began. Rolling to the side, he sprung forward under the man's line of fire. With a clap of his hands he transmuted a blade onto his automail arm, but he knew that that by itself wouldn't be enough to pierce through the man's armour. He shot out his flesh hand and took a hold of one of the barrels on the intruders arm, transmuting it as he did so. At his touch the liquid metal released its grip on the man's arm, and bonded instead to Ed, flowing up and around his arm. With an expert swing of his blade, Ed took advantage of the man's revealed flesh to cleanly sever the tendons connecting muscle in the man's arm. Ensuring to make a precision cut so that he merely disabled the arm without too much unnecessary damage.

The man didn't even seem to feel it, shifting immediately to his next attack. Steel spikes shot out from his chest eager for blood. Ed was too fast however, managing to nimbly jump back away from the man's range. Once safely out of range he calmly shed the metal he'd stolen from his opponent, making the metallic liquid slide down his arm and slither in between the cracks of the pavement, out of the man's reach.

His foe was frothing at the mouth now, his eyes wild, burning with rage. His limp dangling arm wasn't revealed for long, the liquid metal automatically sliding from the rest of his body to cover the exposed limb.

He didn't seem overly bothered by the loss of utility in one of his arms, perhaps, reasoned Ed, he simply couldn't feel pain at the moment. This wasn't the time for idle contemplation however, for seconds later the man was transmuting again. This time he covered himself with smaller, but still deadly spikes, and somehow had the mental capacity to form a brutally oversized ball and chain on the end of his still useable arm. Ed responded likewise, transmuting the ground beneath him into an overly ornate staff.

The man charged, his brutish weapon flailing wildly in the air above him, another roar bellowing out from his spittle flecked mouth. Heaving on the chain with the full force of his oversized form, the man sent the heavy ball smashing down to Ed. Once more Ed was fast enough to dodge the attack, sidestepping the attack, he spun on the spot, gracefully swinging his staff delivering a smooth blow to the man's face.

Momentarily stunned by the attack, the man staggered slightly to the side, giving Ed the opportunity to get behind him. Clapping his hands together, Ed gingerly placed his fingers on the man's back, being careful not to touch one of the many razor sharp spikes. This time his alchemy affected a lot more than just the metal on the man's arm. His entire form began to pulsate as if drawn by two competing forces, which in a sense it was. It was Ed's alchemy against that of the brute's before him, and as simple as he was, he seemed to have ample willpower to bond the liquid metal to him.

As impressive as this was however, Ed dwarfed the man in raw alchemic power, his will crushing that of the larger man's in moments. As if cut free the, metal covering the man released its grip, flying towards Ed as if magnetically attracted. For a moment it looked as if the wave of metal would surround the blond alchemist, but an alchemitized swipe of his staff split the liquid metal, causing it to fly past him harmlessly.

The loss of the metal armour revealed a sight more gruesome than Ed had been prepared to see. His entire form was crisscrossed in scars and burns, boasting what was clearly a lifetime spent in battle. Vicious old battle wounds ran across his back and shoulders, chunks of flesh were simply missing from his sides and arms. The sight of it almost made Ed feel guilty for what he did next.

Jumping forward slightly, Ed planted his automail leg directly into the man's back, kicking the already off balance giant to the ground. He sprawled there motionless; the loss of his armour seemed to baffle him, as if he was incapable of understanding why his alchemy no longer worked.

Lying there, confused and covered in scars with a limp lifeless arm, Ed almost couldn't help but pity him. But he had to push that aside, he knew that the man had killed many soldiers, and had attacked Winry besides. He was dangerous, even if his armour/weapon was gone, he had to be restrained. Clapping his hands softly touched the ground, using his newly acquired senses to trace the flow of energy in the ground to his foe's prone form. Around the man erupted a cage of solid stone, tendrils of rock reaching out towards him, binding him in their cold grasp. The assailant was confined, immobilised, naked, humiliated and defeated.

Standing there, knowing that he'd won caused a shift in Ed. In the recesses of his mind he heard a soft but distinct 'click', as if a door had been closed. At the same moment the world seemed to collapse in on itself, folding back into normality. The sudden loss of his extended senses left his head feeling like it was stuffed with cotton. Not from pain or a headache, but from a strange feeling that everything was too slow and not clear enough. It was as if the world had somehow become _less. _In an inexpressible way, everything had just been diminished. Always the analyst, Ed stored away this experience for later consideration.

'You there,' shouted Ed, pointing at the nearest soldier, 'Have some of the alchemists prepare a cell for him downstairs, and make sure that there isn't any metal down there either, who knows what this wack-job can do if he gets his hands on a steel bar.'

'Yes sir!'

'And get him some clothes as well, just cause I kicked his arse doesn't mean I want to stare at it all day,' he added wearily, receiving another salute in acknowledgment. Looking around he let the full impact of the devastation wash over him. One man had ripped through the walls of central command like it was nothing, killing goodness knows how many men in the process. And he'd taken down Armstrong, and that's what really blew his mind, the fact that Amrita could attack them (and he had no doubt in his mind that it was them who did this) and deal so much damage out of the blue like this terrified him to his core. He realised they had to seriously reassess just what their adversaries were capable off.

In the meantime though he had a lot of work to do cleaning up the damage that the berserker-giant had caused. He knew he should probably rest after his fight, but at the same time he knew that the people had to see them recover from this attack as if it weren't a problem, as if it were all under control. The image that they gave to the people was vital, especially against a foe with such 'lofty' ideals as Amrita.

Sighing he rose to feet, sparing an accusatory glance at the encaged man next to him as he did so. A slight frown furrowed his brow as he paused and took a closer look at the man's form. He was a mess of mutilated flesh, riddle with scars and old wounds, but strangest of all was that on his chest, just above his heart sat a playing card. It was a Jack of Spades, its face contorted in a hideous grin, mocking evidence of this weapons origin.

Angered by the obvious message being sent he reached out and took the card from the man's chest, turning it over he saw to his surprise that the card was double sided. On the one side it was the gruesome face of the cackling Jack of Spades, on the other appear to show the decapitated remains of a Jack of Diamonds. A single word was hastily scrawled across the bottom of the card, 'Fullmetal.'

* * *

In one of the many rooms overlooking the grand court stood a silent figure, impassively watching the Fullmetal Alchemist get about the task of repairing the building. A look of annoyance and scarcely veiled contempt spread across their features.

The council would need to know of this straight away, they'd have to come up with a suitable method for dealing with this unexpected change of circumstances. To have one of their number go on a rampage in Central HQ! And at a time like this no less! It could ruin all of their carefully laid plans. And that was something they couldn't allow to happen. Even if it meant silencing the brute before he could talk. At least that was something positive to come from this; his assault had proven him to be an idiot. And this meant that they had one less idiot to deal with.

* * *

In the end Ed hadn't long been working on the reconstruction process before he was called away by a summons from the Fuhrer. Trudging into the Fuhrer's office, his expression deepened into a scowl when he saw that Olivia Armstrong, the minister of defence, was sitting there as well.

'Ah excellent, the man of the hour. I knew it was a good idea to offer you this chance,' beamed Fuhrer Grumman, blithely ignoring the twitch of annoyance that crossed Ed's face at the suggestion that he'd been given a choice in the matter. 'I was just talking to Olivia and trying to figure out who this fellow was. Unfortunately though she doesn't appear to have much information on him, despite the clear threat he posed to our defence.'

Noticing the fact that Olivia's hand suddenly tightened on her sword, Ed decided that it would probably be in his interests to be diplomatic and avoid the issue of the breach in defences if at all possible. 'Well the evidence I have at the moment points towards him being a member of Amrita. I'm sure that you're aware of their activities lately, they have been growing more and more active of late.'

'Are you suggesting that we should have been prepared for something like this Fullmetal?' Growled Olivia darkly.

'Oh no not at all!' coughed Ed, realising his mistake and suddenly becoming very aware of how dangerous she was with that sword. 'The group itself, while active, has mostly restrained themselves with lower level disruptions. For them to take such a large step is bizarre, foolhardy and all but unforeseeable.'

'Oh? Hmm is that so?' murmured the Fuhrer from around his cup of tea, 'and what makes you say that.'

The question caused a slight furrow to form on Ed's brow, it was a question that'd he'd been pondering in the hour or two since the attack. 'They're a political activist group claiming to be for the people. To attack us now, and in such a bloodthirstily violent way would just alienate them to the public. They must have known that one man alone couldn't take down the entire base. The only thing it seems to do is to draw attention to their existence and extremist policies. Which is something they aren't entrenched enough with the public to be able to handle.'

'Perhaps, but you're assuming that the attack will send a negative message to the public,' muttered Grumman.

'Well I suppose they could be hoping that we act as extremely as they do, and do something rash such as execute the prisoner. If we did that then maybe we'd receive a negative response from the public.'

'But if we don't make a firm example of him we'll seem weak to the public, they're forcing us to make an example of him.' Said Olivia in a grim tone.

'Possibly, but I doubt it, I got the impression that he did this on his own merit,' replied Ed, thinking of the way that the brute had seemed to be trying to get to Winry, 'or at the very least against the will of the group.'

'Even so we need to make an example of him.'

'Perhaps, but there's no reason to be so extreme as to murder him.'

'The people need to know that only the strong will survive.'

Her cavalier attitude in deciding the fate of a man's life pissed him off to no end, 'that's a man's life! Even ignoring the fact that it would wrong to kill him. It'd also send the message that we've reverted to the old fascist form of governance, giving Amrita all the ammunition it needs to take us down!'

'So do you have a better solution then?'

'Anything is better than killing him off!' gritted Ed through clenched teeth, 'We need to control the impression that the public is taking from this, keep him alive, and make it look as if this attack didn't faze us.'

'You're suggesting that we manipulate the media? Now who's being immoral,' she snidely replied, her voice dripping with condescension.

'No I'm merely suggesting that we make it look as though we actually have competent defences put up to prevent this sort of thing from derailing us!' Ed spat back viciously. Ok so maybe diplomacy wasn't one of his strong points.

'Oh ho. We seem to be getting so excited that we're losing the plot,' laughed the Fuhrer from his desk, efficiently derailing the argument. All of a sudden however his voice darkened, becoming serious, 'We'll follow Edward's suggestion. We won't kill him, yet. We'll see what information we can get from him. In the meantime, I want you Edward to devote your full time to the Amrita situation try and dig up anything you can. And I want you Olivia, to take steps to reinforcing the defences here at central, but do it quietly, we don't need to let everyone know that we're concerned.'

'Fine,' they both muttered still shooting daggers at each other. Despite his annoyance with the Ice Queen, Ed was quite happy with this assignment, it was exactly what he wanted to be doing. Threatening Winry again had given him even more reason to hate Amrita.

* * *

'We have to do something, we can't just leave him there, the idiot will reveal all our secrets.'

'Hardly, even if he wanted to he wouldn't be able to, like the rest of you, he is only privy to what he needs to know.' Murmured the group's leader, a slight twinge of amusement colouring his words.

'Well we can't just leave him there to reveal what secrets he does know,' replied the first voice, clearly annoyed at the leader's lack of concern.

'What I want to know is what he was doing there in the first place. That brute nearly ruined our plans, revealing us before we're ready.'

'Steps have already been taken to control that problem,' chimed in a feminine voice.

Leaning back in his chair, the Jack of Spades allowed himself a small smile, knowing that the darkness of the meeting room would hide any sign of expression. _They work even faster than I expected, no matter, it's all going to plan. _

'And the Jack of Diamonds?' asked the first voice.

'Arrangements have been made. His end will be swift but painful.' Murmured the leader solemnly.

Silence met his response, the only sound the constant shuffling of a deck of cards. His announcement was a grim reminder of the price of failure.

'And the plan?' asked Spades, breaking the silence.

'Goes ahead as planned.'

'Fullmetal will gain even more popularity from this victory, we must take steps to ensure that the people change their mind about him, or we'll never to be able to win.'

'It shall be dealt with,' replied the feminine voice from before.

_Excellent, _'Make sure you're careful about it though, he's better than we had thought.'

'I hardly think that's a worry,' she replied sarcastically, bristling at the implication that she couldn't handle it.

'Perhaps you should target his relationship with the girl, I'm sure that you'll be able to do that,' he said.

'It will be handled,' she grated, hating anyone intruding on her territory.

_I'm sure it will be, _thought Jack, _all according to plan._

* * *

'Nonsense, I feel fine! Get out of my way!' Echoed a powerful voice through the corridor.

'I'm sorry Mr Armstrong but I'm going to have to insist that you sit back down before you injure yourself further,' came a firm response.

'Well it seems that the he's back to his normal self,' murmured Havoc to Fuery as they rounded the corner. Before them a showdown was taking place between the hulking form of the Lieutenant-General and the strict figure of the hospital's head nurse, Ms Allan. A strict yet beautiful woman young woman, she managed to give off an authoritarian air the seemed out of place coming from her warm and youthful face.

'Your recovery has come along well these last two days, and I won't have you ruining it just because you want to show off your muscles!'

Amazingly the military man and living mountain quietened down under her firm glare. Shoulders slumped slightly in defeat he returned quietly to his room, his only response a subdued mumble, 'This form of recovery has been passed down the Armstrong line for generations.'

'Yes, yes I'm sure it has, now sit down and get some rest or I won't be giving you any of your pudding.'

At this point Armstrong spotted Havoc and Fuery, resulting in a slight blush rising in his cheeks from embarrassment. Nonetheless he complied with the woman's request, sliding back into bed with as much dignity as he could manage.

'There we go,' murmured Nurse Allan, aiming a smile at her patient that was much friendlier than a nurse would normally give their patients, 'now then, it looks like you have some guests, so I'll leave for now and be back later to change your dressings and help you read the paper.'

'Thank you Ms Allan,' replied Armstrong gruffly, desperately trying to appear manly despite his crimson cheeks.

'Wheeew, your getting as bad as Mustang sir!' sniggered Havoc after she shut the door, 'I must say though that one's got a really nice set of ti-'

'Ahem,' came a soft voice from behind them; sitting in the corner was a tall, neat lady with a disapproving look on her face as she watched Havoc over her slim glasses.

'Umm,' flustered Havoc, having not realised that Armstrong secretary was in the room, 'I'm sorry Ms Braddick, I was just joking around.'

'I'm sure.'

'Ahhh, anyway,' said Havoc turning back to the surprisingly quiet Armstrong, 'We've got news from HQ.'

'What has happened now, has Ed managed to locate the source of the attack?' Alex asked vaguely as if coming out of a reverie.

'No not yet. To make matters worse the media have been fairly brutal in their reporting of the event. The papers are demanding an inquiry into your capability because you lost, while at the same time trying to pass Edward off as some sort of sadist for beating him up. It's bizarre.'

'Really. Hmmm, what sort of response from the public has there been?'

'Thankfully limited,' replied Fuery, 'the events of two years ago still seem to be in everyone's mind. You're both heroes, and it will take more than a few snide comments to take that away. Regardless it's hardly our main worry right now. The attacker was murdered last night in his cell, a small explosion similar to that in the Vane case.'

'What's been done?'

'Ed's leading the investigation, but he's swamped with other stuff on this Amrita situation, I don't think he's actually slept since before the fight. He's been obsessed, even for him. Nonetheless he's maintaining that he has it all under control, and has learned all that he could from the murder. Your sister has taken over your duties and so is similarly swamped. And Mustang is still away.'

'So I am needed! Well you needn't worry for a moment, I will talk to Susa.. ah Nurse Allan and tell her that I'm to be released.'

'Pffft, with all due respect sir we both know that's not going to happen,' snorted Havoc, 'You'll be here for at least a week yet. She'd never widdle Armstrong go. Besides even if you do get back to Central, your sister threatened to put you back in here if you came back early. The best thing for you to do now is rest and heal, and then you can shoulder the weight of the world again.'

'I must do my part!'

'Don't worry about it, we got a call from Mustang he's in Eastern Command for the next week but after that he'll be back, and he says that he's called in Alphonse from Xing and he should be arriving soon.'

'But until then we're severely weakened, I've decided I'll be returning tonight!' Declared Armstrong rising again as if to leave, but freezing in place when the door opened revealing Nurse Allan with a tray containing a generous helping of pudding.

'You'll leave when I tell you that you can leave,' she said in a vaguely threatening tone.

'I'm sorry, but I have serious work to do for the safety of this country, I can't just sit around in this bed like an invalid. My country needs me, requires the talents that have been passed down the Armstrong line for generations!' gabbled Armstrong as he watched the nurse wearily.

With a sniff of disdain, she stepped forward and gave a short sharp poke to the bandages over one of Armstrong's chest wounds. The effect was immediate, with a howl of pain the Lieutenant General collapsed back onto his bed. Clearly satisfied with the result, she wasted no time in rounding on the rooms other three occupants.

'I can deal with you all just as easily, so if you don't mind visiting hours are over,' she directed, her sunny resolve soured by the steel underlying her words.

'Yes, umm, well we'll just be, ahh leaving then,' stammered Fuery, shocked by the way she'd calmly dealt with Armstrong.

Once outside Ms Braddick spoke up, 'You said that Alphonse Elric was coming back from Xing? Did Lieutenant General Mustang give any indication as to when he should be arriving?'

'He said that based on when he called him he should be through the desert in the next three or four days. Why?'

'It's important for Lieutenant General Armstrong to know exactly how long these 'reinforcements' should take.'

'Oh right, of course.'

'Anyway, if you'll excuse me gentlemen, I've fallen behind on my paperwork. Good day.' She said somewhat imperiously, pushing past them and striding away down the hall. Leaving Havoc and Fuery there to just stare on in bewilderment.

'Between her and that nurse, I have no idea how the big guys going to survive these next few days,' smirked Havoc.

'You need to worry about yourself, you're supposed to be looking after that kid after all. Have you got any idea where he is right now?'

'Nope, not at all.' Replied Havoc glibly before he too strolled away down the corridor, leaving an exasperated Fuery to shake his head in silence.

* * *

Ed was tired, to say the least. He was exhausted. He'd working almost constantly these last 3 days, only breaking for a handful of hours each night to sleep on the couch in his office. And he was still no closer to finding anything out about Amrita. He'd been through a sizeable chunk of the archives kept in Central Command, nothing. He'd reviewed what they'd managed to get out of the prisoner before he'd been killed, nothing. He'd looked over the murder scene and sites of all the other killings and oddities that had been reported in central lately and he had absolutely zit to show for it.

The only thing he knew is that they had access to inside the most secure area of their head quarters. Which quite frankly was an extremely worrying thought. Especially with Winry in the base.

Winry. He hadn't spoken to her since she did his automail, hadn't even checked up on her. _I really should go see her, _he thought, at which point his stomach grumbled, _and go get something to eat, it is dinner time after all. _Rising out of his chair, he stretched his tired muscles, for once enjoying the fact that at least parts of him couldn't feel fatigue. _I wonder where she is._

A few inquiries revealed that she'd set up camp in Mustangs office, seeing as he was away at the moment. Apparently it was one of the few places where she could sleep without getting harassed by excitable soldiers, a though which brought a frown to Ed's face.

_I wonder why she's staying at the base, _thought Ed as he opened the door his Mustang's office,_ I know for a fact after my automail that she has enough money to rent out a place._

He found Winry curled up on the couch reading a book about automail. She looked up when he entered, delight flickering across her face only to be quickly replaced with a look of feigned indifference.

'So I see you've remembered me.' She said sounding hurt.

Ed was many things, including tactless, but stupid wasn't one of them. He knew that tone of voice, and he knew when it wasn't worth getting into a fight.

'Yeah I'm sorry about that, I've been really busy since the attack. But I'm here now, and I figured we could go get some dinner.' _Hmm last time I said that I got my arm blown off._

Her eyes lit up in delight, before the emotional was quickly and brutally crushed down, it looked like she was revving for a fight no matter what he did.

'You look like shit,' she said turning back to his book.

_Oh it is so on._

'Yeah this automail of yours is surprisingly heavy it's really taking it out of me, and it squeaks like an old barn door whenever I try to sleep.'

'That automail is perfect!' she snapped, 'It's your insistence to work all hours of the night that's leaving you looking like a zombified midget.'

'I'm taller than you are shorty!'

'You really shouldn't be so proud of that!'

'You really shouldn't be spending your free time reading automail text books!'

'You should have free time!'

'I do have free time, and I was going to spend it taking you to dinner, but if you really think I look that bad then I guess I could just go to bed.'

'Oh no you don't! You're not getting out of it that easy. I come out all this way just to see you, build you a new leg and arm, and what happens? You ignore me! Well I don't care how tired you are, you owe me a dinner and I'm damn well going to take it.' She glared, pushing past him and marching out the door.

Ed raised an eyebrow at her retreating form, his mouth taking on a sardonic twist, 'Ok but something simple, I'm too tired to go anywhere fancy,' replied Ed, following her and idly searching his pockets for his money pouch.

'Lieutenant-General Elric!' came a call as he stepped out of the office.

He quickly located the source of the cry. A young looking admin assistant (who was probably older than him) frantically waving her arm at him.

'Sir,' she saluted, in a rather feeble attempt to look militaristic, 'I was told to give you this.'

Ed took a small box from her hands. Opening it he discovered a single sheet of paper and a set of keys.

'What is it?'

'The keys to your assigned house sir. Construction finished yesterday. Sir.'

'Assigned house? No one told me about this.'

She stared at him for a moment as if utterly taken aback by this admission, 'oh. Well it's finished. Sir.'

By this point Winry had come back and was looking at the paper – what Ed assumed was some sort of ownership paper – with a disturbing amount of interest.

'Oh wow Ed,' she gasped, 'this place is huge, they've built you a mansion.'

'What? Let me see that,' Ed replied grabbing the page and quickly perusing it, 'this can't be right, I don't need this much space. And why is the military even doing this anyway. I didn't ask for this nonsense, give it to someone else.'

'Don't be stupid Ed, you're, umm, a high ranking official, and you need you need to, live like it,' said Winry, a speculative glint in her eye.

'Why are you so eager for me to take this place?'

'No reason.' She asserted innocently, 'You know, other than the fact that I've been sleeping in a couch in an office the last few nights and would like a fully furnished bedroom for once.'

'Oh. Well then I can get you a hotel room, I don't need this place, I'll make my own arrangements.' He replied, with a slight roll of his eyes.

Turning back to the assistant he went to return the box, only to have it snatched out of his hands by an exasperated Winry.

'Oy! What do you think you're doing.'

Blatantly ignoring him, Winry instead smiled at the assistant, 'thanks a lot for this, tell whoever organised this that Mr Elric gracefully accepts.'

'Stuff that, tell them they can take the house and shove –'

'And,' Winry cut in, 'that he thanks them for their regard.'

'Yes mam,' saluted the assistant, clearly amused by the exchange.

As she turned to go however, Ed called her back.

'Tell me,' he asked, 'who was it that actually ordered this? The certificate you gave me simply said 'from the office of the Minister for Infrastructure.' But the only Ministers currently appointed are the fuhrer, Mustang, the Armstrongs and myself.'

'The order came from Lieutenant-General Mustang, sir. He is currently acting overseeing the department while the minister is away.' Smiled the assistant, before saluting and hurrying away.

'Now that's odd.' Muttered Ed.

'Hmm, what's odd?' asked Winry vaguely, as she scrutinized the papers.

'That they haven't told me who the Minister of Infrastructure is. It means either that there isn't one yet, which is unlikely after all this time. Or they have some reason not to tell me.'

'Like what.'

'I'm not sure, I have my suspicions though. Here just leave that box in Mustang's office and we'll go have dinner.'

'Oh no, no, no. You're not just going to leave this somewhere, we're taking this with us, then after dinner we're going to take a look at this place at least.'

'I don't want to live in a military house.'

'And why not? It's free, and it's huge!'

'Yeah but it's probably really depressing and militaristic. Not to mention that I already work in the military, I don't really want to live in it as well.'

'Well then we'll just have to take a look won't we, and then perhaps make sure it feels like home.'

'You just want one of the beds.'

'Bath actually, then bed. But yes, and you're mule-headedness isn't going to take that away from me. Now come on we have dinner to go to, I thought you were hungry.'

_Dammit, _thought Ed as she pulled him down the corridor, o_h well, I guess I may as well let her use it and then give it back later. It won't be for long. Surely_


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer - I do not own any part of the fullmetal alchemist universe.

Ok, so this chapter comes fairly quickly after the last one... that's mostly because this one was basically finished. I hadn't uploaded them because I'd hit a writing block. But I'm over it now, or so I hope, and so I should be ok from here...

Anyway, thanks to those who reviewed, and keep it up! I like getting reviews... even bad ones. So, read, review and enjoy!

* * *

'Wow Ed, this place is huge!' exclaimed Winry as they stepped through the front door of Ed's new house.

'So?'

'So? SO? Look at this place, they've given you a mansion. Have you even looked at the floor plan of this place?'

'No, and I don't need to, I don't need this kind of space, I'm fine in an apartment somewhere.'

'Aww is widdle Edward's home making him feel even smaller than he is?'

'This isn't my home, it's just a house that I'm going to live in, until there is a convenient time to return it.'

'Oh really, and where exactly is your home?'

'Resembool. With the family. Where you, and granny and Al are,' replied Ed off-hand, 'definitely not here in Central with the military.'

This confession from the usually tight-lipped Ed brought a small smile to Winry's face, 'But you're part of the military, you're one of the leaders of the military. It's just silly to deny it.'

'But I don't want to be part of the military. I'm just stuck here, and I don't need to be reminded about it whenever I go to relax.'

'Is the state really that bad? Is it really evil? I mean sure before it was corrupt, but now it's lead by you, Grumman, the Armstrongs and Mustang, how bad can it be.'

'And who knows what will happen if I leave,' sighed Ed, 'Who knows how they'll deal with all this Amrita stuff.' _Who knows if I'll be able to protect you._

'It doesn't have to be as bad as you make it sound, you're in control now. You can make it better. And the first step towards doing that is accepting your new home.' Beamed Winry, gesturing expansively at the entrance hall.

'You just want to mooch a bath and bed,' replied Ed arching an eyebrow, 'besides, I already told you, home is Resembool.'

'Oh please,' huffed she huffed in an exasperated tone, 'you're just saying that cause you think that's where everyone else will be, well who even knows if everyone will be in Resembool. I mean look at Al, he's in Xing at the moment, goodness only knows where he's going to be 5 years from now, can you really see Mei letting him settle down in Resembool?'

'What does the beansprout have to do with it?'

'Seriously? Wow, you really are dense. The point was that he's probably not going to be in Resembool. And it's not fair on Granny to have to put up with all of us in her retirement either.'

'And what about you?' said Ed softly.

'Me? Well, I... I was thinking of staying here actually.' She stammered before suddenly blushing, 'I mean here as in Central, not necessarily here as in here in your house. I mean I can get my own place if you'd prefer –'

'Winry stop,' interrupted Ed, 'forget about it for a moment. Why do you even want to stay in Central? I thought you loved Resembool?'

_Wow, You really are dense, _thought Winry, instead saying, 'I do, but I'd really like to set up my own mechanic business, I can't really work a business out of the middle of nowhere, so I figured I might as well set up shop here.'

'What about Rush Valley?'

'Rush Valley has hundreds of Automail mechanics, it was great while I was learning, but if I want real business I'm going to have to be somewhere where demand is a bit higher.'

'And how exactly were you thinking of paying for all this, starting any business, much less an automail shop,costs a lot.'

Biting her lip, Ed saw a momentary flash of uncertainty cross her face, 'I'd figure something out, I have a bit of money saved away, with time I'll get something going.'

'You know,' said Ed slyly, 'I dare say the military would have plenty of use for a good automail mechanic nearby central base. If you knew someone 'high up' in the military you might just be able to work out some sort of arrangement with them. I bet you'd even get access to the latest military designs. Hmmm. You'd probably have to ask them really nicely though.'

Winry's face lit up with delight at the thought, 'Please, please, please Ed.'

'Please what?'

'Please pull some strings for me, it would mean so much.'

'I don't know,' Ed replied adopting his custom arrogant smirk, 'what's in it for me.'

Winry's face dropped a little, and the imploring innocence in her eye suddenly died, 'well for one thing you'll be stuck living with a wrench for a face if you don't.'

'Ha, nice try Winry, equivalent exchange doesn't work that way. Besides I kind of doubt that I'm going to be able to avoid that fate anyway.'

'No, but it might stop me from using a bigger wrench.'

'Well I suppose I could help you out, but only on certain conditions.'

'Yeah?' asked Winry, suddenly suspicious,' like what?'

'First, you have to agree to a bodyguard.'

'WHAT, no way, not happening.'

'Just until this Amrita business is settled, I promise you won't even know they're there.'

'I don't want some muscle-brained brute looming over me 24/7.'

'It'll just be when you go into town, or any non-military area. And it won't be for all that long.'

'I'll think about it, what else you got.'

'I want free automail, no more of this exorbitant billing crap.'

'HA, no way, you're my best customer.'

'Well if you get set up with military orders you won't really need my business.'

'A lot of effort goes into those limbs of yours!'

'Those are my terms.'

She thought about it for a moment, frowning slightly. He was right about the latter bit, she really wouldn't need his business. Frankly if she had her way she wouldn't be charging him at all, though that was for different reasons. It was the first one that really got to her, she didn't like the idea of being shadowed. Realistically though, she didn't really have much of a choice, it was too good an offer to turn down. She could still try and get as much out of it as possible though.

'Fine, I'll agree, if you let me stay here.'

'Oh,' blinked Ed, genuinely surprised, 'of course, I assumed you were going to do that anyway. Deal.'

Ed was suddenly winded by force of Winry crashing into him in a delighted hug. Looking down at her in surprise, seeing the way she was squeezing his chest and the happy look gleaming on her face, he couldn't help but smile himself. Slowly awkwardly, he began to hug back.

* * *

It was hot. Very hot. And it was dusty too. Very dusty. Both things that Mei seriously disliked, and from the look of the horizon there was no end to it.

Despite having travelled through the desert, twice, Mei still wasn't used to it, and didn't think she ever would be. They'd been trudging through this for well over a week now, and she knew that they were getting close to Amestris, but nonetheless the vast nothingness of the place was starting to get to her. _God I wish they'd hurry up and finish that train line, _she though bitterly as she once more wiped sweat from her brow.

Just ahead of her walked Alponse, who, much to Mei's disgust, wasn't so much as sweating. It was as if the heat didn't affect him at all, he didn't even seem overly tired despite having spent most the day trudging up and down these endless sand dunes.

'Are we nearly there yet Alphonse-sama?' she groaned as they crested yet another dune.

Looking over his shoulder he gave her a quick reassuring smile, 'Almost at the campsite Mei, we've just got another hour to go, then we'll be good to head into Amestris tomorrow.'

Pouting slightly, she bit down a sigh and a sharp retort. It wasn't his fault that they were out here, it was _his brothers. _It was just his ridiculous calm that was annoying her. Usually she found it to be endearing, it was one of the reasons she liked him in fact. But at the moment, stuck in this desert, it was just plain annoying. No one can be that serene, when she was sweating and aching so much. It just wasn't fair.

In the past 2 years that Alphonse had been in Xing they'd become very close. At first he only seemed interested in a teacher student relationship as she taught him the ways of Alkehestry. But once he'd learned all that she had to teach him (which, again to her disgust, only took him about 3 months) he'd suddenly made the change to being much more responsive to her advances. In fact she'd been more than a little surprised at the sudden change, he'd gone from a very formal impersonal relationship to dancing with her at balls and, eventually, stealing kisses from her on the balcony. Inevitably this led her to thoughts of their first kiss at the Emperor's engagement party feast. How she wished they were still there, better than the stinking heat of the desert anyway.

By this point she was completely engrossed in her thoughts (and not so innocent thoughts about their possible next step), and so didn't notice when Alphonse suddenly stopped in his tracks.

'Ow,' she grunted as she walked into him, she lost any annoyance she had at the sight of his face however, 'what's wrong?'

'Shhh, there's something not quite right,' he replied, his voice hushed.

'What is it?' she whispered back, sending out her senses around the area, yet not sensing anything.

'I'm not sure, but there's people out there, I'm sure of it. They're chi doesn't feel right, almost as if they're trying to hide it. They don't feel friendly.'

She took his word for it; she couldn't sense anything but she was more than ready to believe that he could. She was the best in Xing at Alkahestry, but Alphonse had, in less than two years, seemingly perfected it. A feat not far short of incredible, but she supposed that was to be expected from the son of Alkahestry's founder.

'There's a lot of them, and they don't seem entirely human either. But I still can't quite place where they – WATCH OUT LEE, IT'S BEHIND YOU,' he yelled at one of their aids, clapping his hands to the ground as he did so. Before Lee had even been able to turn around, a Lion-chimaera launched itself from the sands only to be swatted away by a giant hand rising from the sand.

Suddenly they were surrounded; there were chimaera everywhere. They launched themselves from the sand dunes intent on rending the nearest traveller to pieces. There was probably only 20 of them all told, but 20 chimaera with animalistic strength and speed was more than a match for most of the 10 odd travellers.

The imperial ambassador to Amestris fell first, struck by poisonous barbs from what appeared to be a scorpion blending. The guards hacked it to pieces, but it was too late, the emissary was dead before he'd hit the ground. The guards were soon to follow, surrounded and dispatched with pack like efficiency.

Both Mei and Alphonse were experienced with this sort of fight however, and also had the advantage of alchemy. An advantage which they had no qualms about taking; they just needed the opportunity first.

A pair of the chimaera had decided on her as their prey. Shaggy and hulking, they could have been any of a number of different crosses, and given their approach she didn't have time to give it much thought. The first one mindlessly charged at her, its buddy close on its heels. Their plan seemingly no more sophisticated than tackling her over. Deciding not to bother with the first one, she nimbly flipped over him, using his back as a platform to propel herself feet first into the second beast. Both feet contact with the chimaera's face, but the force from her kick wasn't enough to completely stop it, merely deflect it. The creature stumbled to the side, it's momentum carrying and unbalancing it, making it collapse face first in the sand. A precision kick to the head knocked it out without serious hurting it. By now the first was coming back for a second pass, but this time Mei had time to prepare. A hastily drawn circle in the sand was all that she needed to smash her foe between two man-sized fists of sand.

Wiping a bead of sweat from her brow, she quickly appraised the battle. Throwing her kunai into the sand around her, Mei made a circle and used a trick that Alphonse had taught her to create hulking warriors from the sand. Unfortunately she could only manage 5 at once, but given how few of their number were left, it would hopefully be enough to save the remaining travellers. It was Alphonse she was more worried about, the bulk of the chimaera had converged on him and seemed intent on taking him down.

There were seven around him in total, a motley assortment of half-human and half-snake, lion or scorpion. They growled and hissed at him, hoping to intimidate him, all the while circling him, looking for an opening. In the middle of it all stood Alphonse, a calm yet focused look on his face. He was standing in a fighting stance, yet held himself relaxed, as if unconcerned with the danger around him, happy for them to come to him. It wasn't long before one of them did.

With a powerful roar a lioness leapt at him from behind, razor sharp claws aiming for the tendons in the back of his thigh. Just before the creature was about to make contract, Alphonse sidestepped, effortlessly flowing to one side. As he did so he clapped his hands together and lightly tapped his aggressors head. At his touch a flash of blue light appeared, complimented by a sudden red glow in the beasts eyes.

Silent now, the creature turned away from Alphonse in strangely jerky and wooden movements. Instead it faced down one of its scorpion comrades. Without warning the lioness shot out one of its muscled arms, delivering a powerful blow to the head. Shocked, Mei could only stare, along with the chimaera, at the collapsing form of the now unconscious scorpion.

Before any of them could recover the lion was off again, charging claws first into the largest mob of chimaera. Whatever, Alphonse had done seemed to have driven it crazy, it flailed wildly at its former allies, punching biting and kicking whatever it could reach, with little care for its own safety.

Meanwhile Alphonse was taking advantage of their change of focus. A look of concentration creased his usually relaxed face as he kneeled to the ground. Clapping his hands, and planting them firmly to the sand, he unleashed a fury of light. A cloud of sand and dust blew up around him from which earthy tendrils whipped out at each of the chimaera, catching them and binding them in chains of sand. In moments the seemingly one-sided skirmish was brought to an end just as suddenly as it had begun.

The dust that had built up around him settled, revealing Alphonse calmly dusting off his clothes.

'Mei,' he called, 'are you alright?'

'I'm -,' she stammered, more than a little annoyed at how easily Alphonse had dealt with the situation, 'I'm fine.'

'Good,' he replied smiling and giving her a reassuring pat on the shoulder, 'can you bury the dead? I need to do what I can for the wounded.'

'What about the chimaera? We need to find out where they came from.'

'This is more important, and besides we won't be able to get any information from them.' He replied as he set to work alchemising the injuries of the nearest wounded, a trick he'd picked up in Xing.

'Why's that?'

'When I touched that man-lion hybrid, I used a trick I found in the Imperial library. I was able to impose on him a new drive, an impulse. Only a fairly low level of control, basic urges really, 'I'm friend, chimaera are enemy, don't kill. Essentially attack them without killing. But the important thing is that in order to replace the drive, I had to see what was there.'

'You read his mind?' Mei asked in vaguely horrified shock.

'No, nothing so sophisticated, just seeing basic neuronal impulses, locations etc, gave me an idea of what parts of his mind were active and what parts weren't. There was basically no firing in the higher order cognitive functioning sections.'

'What are you saying?'

'I'm saying that his mind was no more active than that of an animal, whoever sent them here either did a very rough job, or a very good one. And looking at their number and the quality of the meld, I think it's a fair assumption that that it's the later. We won't get anything out of them.' Rambled Alphonse, clearly thinking aloud. He didn't seem to need to devote a great deal of thought to what he was doing, his touch making wounds stitch closed and bruises get wiped away. Meanwhile Mei had set her army of sand to begin preparing the dead for burial.

'So what should we do with them sir?' asked the last of the surviving guards that Alphonse had just healed, as they helped him to his feet.

'The only thing we can do, take them with us and then hand them over to the military. Maybe Mustang can get something out of them.'

'And how are we meant to do that sir? We're in the middle of nowhere with basically no supplies and no way to hold onto prisoners, let alone take them with us.'

'You just saw me bind them all with nothing but sand molecules, do you really think it's going to be that big of a problem?' replied Alphonse, in a rare display of the overbearing Elric arrogance.

'Ummm, I guess not no.'

'Exactly, now go help finish off those graves, we're heading on within the next 15 minutes.'

'To the next campsite sir?'

'No, it's too risky out here now, we need to get back to Amestris as quickly as possible, we're walking through the night.'

'Yes Sir!'

_Oh no not a whole night of walking dunes, _thought Mei, secretly hating the fact that she agreed with the decision. And even more secretly embarrassed by the fact that she thought Alphonse was cute when he was ordering soldiers around. _Though, _she thought glumly, _I suppose that's not going to be happening any time soon._

And so the group buried the dead and headed off into the darkening sky, none of them noticing the face in the sand that had been observing their every action.

* * *

Ed jerked into wakefulness, roused from his sleep by the feeling that he was being watched. There was someone in his room with him. Or rather there had been, moments ago, he could feel it.

Taking advantage of the dim illumination provided by the morning's first light, he performed a quick scan of the room. He could see nothing out of place, everything was as it had been. Even the window looked like it had been untouched. But that wasn't the case. Someone had been here, he knew it. There was a distinctive tang in the air, it was slight, but after years of practice, Ed could tell that it was from alchemy. But alchemy of what?

Moving slightly, he heard something fall to the ground by his bed. Rolling over, he slowly glanced over the side. The twisted grin of a Jack of Spades playing card smiled back at him; the word 'Anywhere' etched into its surface.

Alarms went off in Ed's head, all of the screaming Winry's name in a continuous and insistent cacophony. Bursting out of his room he charged down the hall to Winry's room. Pinned to the door he found another card, this one reading 'Anytime.'

Not bothering with the handle, he used his automail leg to boot down the door. Rushing into the room, he hastily flicked on the light switch. To his relief Winry was still in her bed, jolting awake at the sudden intrusion.

'Are you alright?' he demanded quickly crossing the distance between her and grabbing her by the arms, intently searching her face for any sign of injury.

'Ed! What the hell!' she demanded angrily.

'Are you ok?' he demanded again.

'I'm fine, now tell me what you're doing in here.'

'There's an intruder, an alchemist! Quick I need to check you to make sure he didn't do anything, get out of bed.' He replied, reaching for her blankets.

She suddenly turned a very red colour, and quickly pushed his hand away. 'That's not necessary I'm fine.'

'What's wrong? It'll only take a second, goodness only knows what this guy's capable of Win, I need to check.'

'I'll check myself, get out.'

'Why are you so bothered by this, I've seen you in your pyjamas before. Unless you're not wea... Oh.' Trailed off Ed, his worry paled skin quickly flooding with colour.

'Yeah. Now get out,' Winry ordered, wrapping the blankets around herself and standing to push him out.

'Ok, ok, I'm going.' He mumbled, desperately trying to avoid staring at the interesting curves that the tightly wrapped blankets reveal, 'But, umm, if there's anything wrong, or strange about your room you have to tell me ok.'

'Yes I will now, get out!'

Before he knew it, the door was being slammed in his face, and he was left standing dumbfounded in the corridor.

_When, and why, did she stop wearing pyjamas, _he thought, only to shake his head in embarrassment at the flood of thoughts that followed.

Taking a deep breath, he managed control himself, and smother in his imagination. Unpinning the playing card from the door, he stalked back to his bedroom. He decided that he should check the house for any other unwanted messages, if nothing else it would keep him from thinking about the fascinating curves that Winry had been covering with that blanket.

* * *

The sickening smell of burnt flesh filled his nostrils. An ordinary man would be sent gagging by the scent, but after his time in Ishval his only reaction was a clinical detached analysis. From the smell of it, he may have gone a tad overboard, burnt them a little too much. After all, sometimes they needed more than dental records to identify bodies. Then again, they were chimaera, and had probably long since lost any of the features that could identify them.

'Sir, are you alright?' Called Hawkeye as she came running up the road, having seen the flash of fire.

'Me? No I'm fine, I've just been culling Amrita's heard a little bit. Idiots sent a pack of chimaera to try and take me down. I'm more insulted than anything else.'

'Did you really have to burn them quite so much,' she asked making a slightly disgusted face.

'Trust me Hawkeye, I'm the Flame Alchemist, I burn things to exactly the degree they need to be burnt.'

His only response was a snort of laughter. He'd noticed that when they were alone she'd been starting to get a bit less formal. For the most part he was pleased with the change. In this particular instance however, he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

'How many were there sir?'

'Only 10; and badly trained at that. A rather poor effort really.'

'Perhaps they thought to catch you unawares.'

'Then they obviously didn't do their research. Anyway, you'd better contact base and tell them to pick up the bodies for analysis. Tell them that I want the report on my desk by the time I get back to Central. Which won't be long.'

'Yes sir.'

'And tell them to double the patrols in this area. They probably won't find anything, but you never know.'

'Yes sir.'

Satisfied, he casually stepped over a corpse and went for a walk down the street, whistling tunelessly and waving politely to the few people that he passed.

* * *

Ed was, to say the least, angry. In reality he was absolutely livid. First, there was the embarrassing incident that morning, that he still hadn't gotten any real leads from. And second, was that he'd taken one night off to catch up with his mechanic-slash-friend-slash-hopefully-more-than-friend and what had happened? The media had had a field day.

When he got to his office that morning, it was to find a newspaper perched precariously atop the ever growing pile of dead-end leads that was accumulating in question. The pathetic rag of a newspaper went by the name of the _Central Intelligence, _an amusing title for what was the worst piece of journalistic nonsense Ed had ever seen. It spent the first half of the paper criticising him and Armstrong over the attack on Central Command, and the rest of it going on about, of all things, Winry.

It was just page after page of increasingly ridiculous claims about their relationship. It started with a few fairly formal reports about how they'd been seen out last night, and comments about who Winry was and where she came from. Annoying, but fair enough he supposed. Then it turned into speculations about whether they were actually dating, and for how long, and suggestions he shouldn't settle for some backwater girl from nowhere. And then by the end of it there were allegations that she was in fact pregnant and that she was going to be forcing him in to marriage to make the child legitimate. He disliked it when they questioned his competency but he could take that, it was part of public office, but when they started to talk about Winry as if she was some clueless hick trying to callously manipulate him, well then they went too far. To make matters worse, despite its name, it was a national newspaper, meaning that it had spread its tripe to all corners of the country. Literally thousands of people.

After reading it through once Ed was on the verge of marching down to the newspapers office and caving the editor's face in. And Winry wasn't much happier, she'd even begun hefting her wrench menacingly, and was threatening to go down there herself. Fortunately though (depending on your perspective,) in the end cooler heads were victorious. Goodness only knows how Ed's secretary had managed to get her voice heard over the mocking laughter of Havoc, and convince him that it was a bad idea, liable to only make things worse. But she had, and it had been enough to settle him down, at least for now. It was by no means over however; he'd go down there eventually, but another time when he had another reason that was less likely to make him seem like some military nut beating on free media.

Winry seemed a bit disappointed at the lack of vengeance, but she too eventually came round. Ed had to wave the need to plan her automail shop in front of her to make her calm down, even after that though she still threw the paper dirty looks.

Ed was hoping that diving into his work would distract him from the newspaper's lies, and perhaps even put him into a better mood. Unfortunately for him though he spent the morning being berated with calls, seeking, much to his annoyance, gossip on the _Central Intelligence_ newspaper that morning. At the sound of the telephone, the understandably irritable alchemist couldn't help but release a low grunt of annoyance. As he picked up the phone, his annoyance only increased as he recognised the aggravatingly joyous tones of Mustang.

'What?' barked Ed into the receiver.

'Now, now Fullmetal that's hardly the tone I expect from a man who, by all reports should be feeling quite relaxed and relieved this morning.' Mocked Mustang, clearly enjoying himself

'What is that supposed to mean,' ground out Ed.

'Well, I saw the newspaper this morning, and well I must say that I'm proud of you that you finally got around to doing something about that. I mean for goodness sake you two have been circling each other like a pair of frisky cats for years now. Tell me, is she as good in bed as she looks like she–'

'NOTHING HAPPENED,' growled Ed, 'get your mind out of the gutter, we had dinner, and then we went to bed.'

'Yeah I bet you did you dog.'

'Different beds.'

'Really? So you're telling me that you took out a woman who you've had a massive crush on for years, and who has had an equally oversized crush on you for about the same time, showed her to a nice dinner, took her back to your mansion, and then did nothing? Good lord man, the stage was set for you to finally get some, and let's face it if there's one thing you really really need it's –'

'The only thing I need is for a certain walking matchstick to shut his face and let me get on with my work.'

'Ok, ok, no need to get all testy. Sounds like someone's got a lot of built up frustration. You really should see someone about that, I'm sure Winry would be more than happy to help you.'

'Oh for goodness sakes.'

'I'm just saying that any real man would have made a move by now, and that last night was your perfect opportunity, and if you're telling me that you blew it, well then I'm not sure what hope there is for you as a man.'

'What are you trying to say?'

'Trying? I thought I was making myself pretty clear. You need to man up and make a move before either she moves on, or someone else moves in. Clear?'

'That – that'd never happen.'

'Oh really? You're a smart guy Ed, maybe you should stop and think about that comment for a while. Not too long though otherwise Winry might soon find a new way to release her own pent up frustrations.'

'You know if you have time to be bugging me then you have time to be working on getting your arse back here.'

'Yeah probably, but some things are more important you know. Like helping the midget alchemist of resembool achieve manhood. I mean you're obviously not going to be able to do it on your own, so someone has to help you.'

'I'm fine, now just hurry up and get back here, or Olivia will stage a coup and annex your department.'

'I'll be back tomorrow, don't do anything stupid until then Fullmetal.'

'Good, now stop wasting my time,' snarled Ed viciously as he slammed down the receiver. Looking around the room he tried to find something to take his anger out on, but somehow his entire staff had mysteriously disappeared the moment his conversation with the Flame Alchemist had begun, leaving only the pile of papers on his desk for him to take out his anger on.

He fell onto it with a passion, but he was once again interrupted by the ringing of the phone.

'What is it now?' he grit out, his voice laced with venom.

'Ed? Is that you?' replied the startled yet cheery voice of younger brother Alphonse.

'Al?' asked Ed incredulously, the anger melting from his tone.

'Yeah! How're you going? What's happening, I have so many things to tell you! And so many things to ask you! What's up with you being in the top brass? And how was dinner with Winry last night? Did you to really... you know.'

'Oh jeez, not you too. Nothing happened, we went to dinner, had a nice time and went home. That's it. And how did you even hear about that? You're in Xing!

'I'm not in Xing.'

'What? Then where are you?'

'I'm in Youswell, at Mr Halling's inn.'

'Really? Why?'

'Cause I just came back from Xing and thought I'd call up and see how you were going.'

'Yes, but why are you in Amestris at all, surely you can't be completely finished with Alkahestry.'

'No not yet, but I reckon I've got a handle on the basics at least. There's still a lot I'm yet to master, though Mei disagrees. But Mr Mustang called me and said I should come back immediately, said you were in the hospital, again.'

'Yeah there's a bit of trouble a few days ago, but they're still going on about it, if you read the paper this morning then I'm sure you've got the bare basics of it.'

'Yeah,' replied Al sounding sad, 'How's Mr Armstrong?'

'He's recovering, I haven't seen him myself, but apparently he's getting better.'

'Brother! How could you not go and see him!' admonished Al, 'after all the times he's come to see you in the hospital.'

'I've been busy.'

'You should go and see him this afternoon, its important Ed.'

'Yeah yeah, I'll do it eventually. How about you, when are you getting here?'

'Well I've got a bit of a complication. I kind a picked up some people in desert, and I need you to send some people to deal with them.'

'What kind of people.'

'Half-people kind of people. Front half of this morning's paper kind of people.'

'You got attacked? Are you alright?'

'Well the Xing ambassador died, and so did a number of others in our group, but Mei and I are ok, and the wounded have been cared for.'

'Hmmm, Mustangs not going to like that,' glad that Al couldn't see the evil grin his face had developed, 'How many of these people are there? I'll call the nearby base and have them deal with it.'

'About 15, but they're savage, and don't seem to have a great deal of their humanity left, so the soldiers should probably be prepared. But as soon as they've been collected, we'll be on the train in.'

'Ok, they'll deal with it before lunch, so you'll probably get here, what 9 ish? I'll tell Winry, she'll be glad to see you.'

'Not as glad as she was to see you last night I'm sure,' sniggered Al.

'Don't start Al, nothing happened.'

'Sure it didn't. Anyway, I'd best be off then. Oh! Can you give me the number of Mr Armstrong's hospital room?'

'Don't have it but he's at Central General, mention my name, you'll have no problem.'

'Good, and you'd better go and see him Ed!'

'I will I will, see you tonight.'

'Ok, bye Ed.'

'Bye Al.'

This time he put down the phone more gently, the faint click sounding through the otherwise silent room .

_Al's right, _thought Ed resolutely standing and marching away from his paperwork, _I should go see Armstrong, and who knows, maybe the intruder told him something I can use._

* * *

Ok, that's it for this chapter, hope you liked it... once again, read and review!


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I own nothing in the Fullmetal Alchemist universe.

Sorry it's taken me so long to update again, it's been a busy few weeks. But it's here now, so I hope you enjoy it. As always please feel free to comment and review.

* * *

Alphonse put down the phone. After talking with Ed, he'd called in to check up on Mr Armstrong, who seemed to be doing better than the paper had led him to believe.

'So what did he say?' ask Mei as he walked towards her and the prisoners.

'Hmmm? Oh, he said that he'd send some people down to collect them, then we should catch the next train to central.' Replied Alphonse as he checked his watch.

'No, not about that. About Winry! Did they really, you know.'

'What? Oh right,' sniggered Al, at first looking confused but then taking on a slight smile, 'no they didn't. They had dinner but that's it, the paparazzi just blew it out of proportion.'

'So they're not a couple?'

'No, well, not yet anyway, they follow each other like a pair of lovesick puppies though, so I'm sure it won't be long.'

Mei nodded, letting out a theatrical sigh, 'poor Winry, how will she ever cope.'

'With those wrenches of hers I'm sure she'll managed,' Al laughed, 'I'm more worried about Ed's skull. Oh and speaking of injuries, I called Mr Armstrong, he said he's alright, but I might go see him tomorrow.'

Mei was about to reply, but her response died in her throat at the sight of a squad of military cars pulling up next to them.

'Mr Elric, sir!' saluted an officer as he stepped out of the vehicle. A young man, no older than Al, his bright blond hair and pristine uniform glinting in the sun.

'Oh! Hello there, did Ed send you?' replied Al, slightly bemused by their formality.

'Yes sir! Lieutenant General Edward Elric sent us to take custody of the prisoners, sir.' Said the officer, rather overwhelmed by the status of the people he was working for.

'Oh good. To central yes?'

'Yes sir.'

'Well then go right ahead, they're all yours. Careful though they're fairly vicious, and they're not quite human so you need to be careful. They bite. Oh, and if you could see to it that our travelling companions have arrangements to get to Central as well.'

'Yes sir. Thank you sir,' saluted the soldier once more, before turning to his men and ordering them to deal with the prisoners.

'So what now?' asked Mei, leaning on Al as she watched the soldiers grapple with the chimaera.

'We are going to have lunch, and then we have to be on the first train to Central,' replied the alchemist pulling Mei to the nearest bakery. 'What would you like to eat?'

* * *

He wasn't sure exactly how he'd done it, but somehow he'd managed it. Ed had gotten through all his paperwork, visited Armstrong, organised Winry's contract and organised further investigation on Amrita. _I suppose it helps when you've got an automail arm that doesn't tire, _thought Ed wryly.

Now the big question was, what to do now. It was 6:30, so it was late enough for him to justify going home, but realistically if he did that then he'd just have to turn around and come back to the city centre to pick up Alphonse from the train. He could always spend the night with Winry on the town, but as he'd discovered that morning, that led to media gossips spewing lies.

Leaning back in his chair, Ed sighed and began to crack his fingers, half of them anyway, mulling through his different options. Before long though his dilemma had been solved for him by the smiling form of Winry bursting through his door.

'Phew, I'm beat,' she sighed, collapsing onto his couch, 'it's a good thing you sent those guards to follow me, or I'd have never been able to carry all of those bags of tools.'

'What bags? And those guards might need to use their hands, and they were meant to stay hidden.'

'Well then they probably shouldn't have been wearing their uniforms then, like two giant blue beacons following me around. Not to mention the fact that they're completely unnecessary by the way.'

'They're just there until this Amrita thing is over, after that they'll be gone, I promise.'

'Yes, yes, as agreed,' she replied, backing down unusually quickly, 'but they better not follow us to dinner tonight.'

'Of course they won't b – wait what? What dinner?'

'We're going out to dinner of course, and then I thought we'd go dancing. It's been ages since I've been dancing.'

'We can't just go out to dinner, look at the paper today! Do you really want another day dealing with that?'

'Bah they'll say what they want not matter what we do.'

'That's the truth,' conceded Ed with a huff.

'So let's go, dinner and dancing.'

'Maybe dinner, maybe.'

'And dancing.'

'Can't.'

'And why not,' she replied, a dangerous glint in her eye.

'Can't dance, and I'm meeting Al at the train station at 9.'

'Al's coming back?' Winry asked delightedly, before taking on a darker expression and gripping her wrench, 'Why didn't you tell me?'

'I did just then.'

'Ed,' she growled ominously.

'I only found out earlier today myself,' he placated, he'd been left sore enough from his previous encounters with the wrench as it was.

'Is Mei with him?'

'Yeah,' sighed Ed, rolling his eyes, 'goodness knows why she's come all this way.'

Winry just looked at him, deciding it wasn't worth the effort to explain it. Luckily for Ed though, his stomach growled loudly before the lengthening silence could get awkward.

'Dinner!' declared Winry, walking out the door and gesturing for him to follow.

'Fine, but someplace quick and quiet. And close to the train station as well.' Called Ed after her, knowing she was probably planning to completely ignore him. _Goodness help me if the paparazzi turn up again. Or rather, goodness help them._

* * *

'AL! Over here!' called Ed as he saw his brother get off of the train, before adding a muttered, 'dammit how did he get taller than me so quickly.'

'Cause you're short,' came Winry's brutal reply.

'Hey guys!' Burst out Al, as soon as he was close enough to talk. Clearly Xing hadn't affected his characteristic bubbly exuberance. And apparently he'd been forewarned about Ed's arm, because he chose not to mention it, despite giving it an obviously concerned look.

'Hello,' Ed and Winry replied in synchronous response.

The unity in their response triggered a sly look on Al's face, 'oh, so, the two of you out late together again huh? Fancy that. I bet you must have had a lot of fun again huh?'

'Al shush,' Mei admonished just catching up, 'I'm sorry about that you two, he's been reading those terrible magazines the whole train ride.'

'Oh really, has he now,' replied Winry archly, gracing Al with a particularly dirty look.

'No I haven't,' cried Al, his tone of voice clearly giving away his lie, 'I just flicked through a few briefly in order to see what was happening back home. That's all. If I may have picked up a few tidbits about how you two stayed out late together, and the occasional suggestion that I might soon be an uncle. Then there is nothing wrong with that!'

'Dammit Al, I told you nothing happened,' sighed Ed as he led the two of them out of the station.

'Oh really, why did you kick down Winry's bedroom door then?'

'That was just because – wait how do you know about that,' asked Ed shocked. He knew for a fact that no one other than him and Winry, and perhaps the intruder knew about that. So how had Al heard about it?

'I saw it in one of the papers, you know when I was looking for different article. _Central of Information _I think it was called.'

'How the hell did they find out about that,' swore Ed. 'Unless, they must have been given the information from an Amrita source.'

'What's Amrita?' Asked Mei.

'It's a group of terrorists trying to bring down the government. They've been active lately, but until now mostly untraceable.' Answered Ed distractedly as he began to pace, 'But if I can find the connection between Amrita and this magazine, whether they have a source in Amrita or are even controlled by them, I might finally be able to get some solid info on them.'

'Umm, that's good then?' said Al with a raised eyebrow, not truly appreciating the severity of the Amrita situation.

'I'll be back in a minute, I've got to make some calls, we need people on this immediately,' called Ed over his shoulder, having already started rushing to the nearest phone.

Surprised by his sudden departure, all they could do was watch him leave. As he rounded a corner however, Mei wasted no time in turning to Winry.

'So what really happened last night?'

Rolling her eyes, Winry began to tell them the same thing she'd been telling everyone else that day.

* * *

They spent the night in Ed's house, Al making 'innocent' comments the whole time – particularly when he saw the signs of alchemy around Winry's previously broken door. Once the commentary died down however, Ed wasted no time in filling Al and Mei into the recent events in Central. Al in turn related the dessert encounter, and what little he'd managed to glean from the creature's mind. Al and Mei were concerned by the turn of events, and they both promised their help, though said they would visit Armstrong at the hospital before doing anything else.

The next morning they did just that, Al and Mei heading off on their own, while Ed and Winry went in to Central HQ. Ed was excited at the prospect of a possible lead on Amrita, Winry meanwhile was eager to check out the temporary workshop she'd been given and perhaps even start working with some patients.

When they arrived Ed called a foot-soldier over to give Winry directions to her station, before he himself was enveloped in a whirlwind of activity. The moment he stepped through the door he was attacked by a series of officials all demanding his immediate attention. Calling out across the steady stream of questions and chatter, Ed managed to get them to quiet down and bring some order to their requests.

'Sir, we've placed a watch on that Newspaper you called about,' started one when Ed gestured for him to talk, 'We've also have people observing all the major papers that have been reporting on the Central-HQ-break-in.'

'Good, if I'm right, then Amrita will be trying to control the media. See if we can get anyone on the inside as well, I doubt they'll be parading this connection around. And see if you can find any pattern or similarities across the different papers. Who's next?'

A short, officious looking man pushed his way to the front, 'Sir, we had a break out last night from Central prison. Or rather a break in. Someone seems to have broken in and tried to free as many prisoners as they could. Fortunately the men on site were able to contain the prisoners before any escaped. Unfortunately however, one of the inmates is unaccounted for. Former professor Graham Steele, a former state alchemist and automail expert. He was given a life sentence for several counts of murder, torture, unlawful alchemy and first class grievous bodily harm.'

'Oh, fantastic,' sighed Ed, 'I want a full report on him on my desk ASAP, absolutely everything and anything we know about him, including what he's been up to during his time in prison. Monitor the crime reports for alchemy or any automail related break-ins. Also send a message to Rush-Valley, if he's an automail expert that's likely where he's going. Next.'

'Soldiers have been making a ruckus in town, we've got several charges of assault and damage to property from multiple incidents. Sir.'

'Then put them to trial and have them disciplined accordingly. We can't be seen to be giving favour to anyone. Anyone else?'

'The chimaera from Youswell have arrived and are awaiting you in the prison block sir,' piped up the last of the officials.

'Good, take me there, let's see if we can get anything out of them,' replied Edward, straightening his uniform and gesturing the man to lead the way.

It only took him a few minutes alone with the poor souls to conclude that Al had been right. There really wasn't much humanity left to the chimaera, the few that could talk struggled just to say the most basic of words, much less hold an actual conversation. Most of them just growled and hissed at him, a few of the others just dozed in the corner unconcernedly, almost as if being chained up in a cell was nothing out of the ordinary.

_These poor people, _thought Ed sadly, _they've lost so much, and they're in so much pain. They're just like Nina._

Intense anger began to boil up within him. Why? Why did they still do this? Hadn't the world seen enough of these sorts of experiments, hadn't they learnt their lesson? Hadn't they fought to try and put a stop to this sort of thing?

'Who did this to you?' whispered Ed, searching a chimaera's eyes for any sign of humanity.

The beast's eye's locked with Ed's, and for the briefest moment Ed thought he saw a flicker of humanity. But then it was gone, an ember swallowed by the darkness of animalistic fury.

'Al was right, it's no use,' sighed Ed.

'What should we do with them sir?' asked an uneasy soldier, 'are you able to turn them back?'

'No, I'm afraid not, they're too closely meshed now, there's nothing I can do for them,' _Just like Nina._

'Should we put them out of their misery, sir?'

'Misery? I suppose they are in misery. They're in unimaginable pain; but I can assure you that any form of misery is better than death. There's no such thing as mercy killing. Anything is better than what waits beyond that final gate.'

'Then what should we do sir?'

'Well,' muttered Ed thoughtfully, 'we might actually have some use for them. They may not be able to tell us anything, but maybe they can show us.'

'Sir?'

'Hmmm? Oh, I'm just thinking allowed. Keep them here for now, but you can expect another visit from me this afternoon.'

'Yes sir!' saluted the soldier.

_This might just be the lead I needed, _Ed thought with morbid satisfaction, _maybe with a bit of help from Al, they might be able to show us the way to the one who did this._

* * *

'That head nurse certainly seemed to like Mr Armstrong didn't she,' laughed Mei.

She and Al had just left the hospital, and were leisurely walking to Central HQ. They'd stayed and watched the head nurse browbeat Armstrong for most of the morning, but eventually had decided that they'd better go and help Ed. At first the man that Al still thought of as the Major had tried to follow them. But Ms Allan had quickly put an end to that idea.

'Yeah, she certainly seemed to be giving him a lot of attention. It's odd that she's head nurse though don't you think?'

'Hmmm? Why's that?'

'Well she's a bit young isn't she. I mean surely there are older more experienced nurses, why give it to someone so young?'

'Oh you're just over thinking things Al. Why is Ed so highly ranked? Maybe she's just really talented, who knows.'

'Yeah, you're probably right,' replied Al, he still thought it was a bit weird though. The entire hospital had struck him as a bit chaotic and disorganised really. And frankly looking around, the rest of Central didn't seem to be much better. There seemed to be a lot more homeless people than he remembered and it seemed like every other shop was either closed down or looking decidedly worse off. He'd mention it to Ed, now that his brother had some authority maybe he could talk to whoever was supposed to keep track of this sort of thing.

They continued the rest of their walk in idle chatter, and ran into Mustang at the gates to Central HQ.

'Alphonse,' murmured the Flame Alchemist before turning to Mei with markedly greater interest, 'Mei, my my, you've certainly grown in the last few years. Are all Xingese princess' look as stunning as you do?'

'Ahem,' coughed Riza from behind his shoulder.

'Bless you Riza,' murmured the Mustang completely unfazed, 'So Mei, would you like me to give you a personal tour of the HQ.'

'I'm fine thank you,' replied Mei, faintly amused, 'I've infiltrated it so many times that I'm quite familiar with it. Although, I wouldn't mind if you could have someone point me to where Winry's set up her workshop.'

Mustang blinked at her deliberate barb, but tactfully decided to ignore it, instead choosing to get down to business, 'Yes I'm sure that that could be arranged, Hawkeye, if you would.'

Riza nodded, her posture relaxing slightly as she guided Mei away.

'Now Mr Elric, I have business to discuss with you,' Mustang said, rounding on Al and beckoning him to follow as he started down the hallway.

'If it's about Amrita, I already told Ed that I'd help.'

'No, no this is much more important than that. Though I dare say you'll be dealing with that for a while.'

'So what is it then?' asked Al, genuinely curious.

'Well as your brother probably told you, the Fuhrer has been doing some shuffling of the executive cabinet. That's how he got his position as head of Internal Affairs.'

'Yeah...' replied Al, starting to get worried about where the conversation was headed.

'Well naturally Fuhrer Grumman recognises how invaluable your contribution during the incident two years ago was, and of course you ambassadorial service in Xing. And he's decided to make you the new Minister for Infrastructure.'

'No,'replied Al simply.

'What?' asked Mustang incredulously, 'this is a great opportunity for you though, you can't just say no.'

'Yes, and thank you for the offer, but I'm just not interested. I'm not suited to the role.'

'Oh I beg to disagree. If Ed as temperamental as he is can do it then I'm sure your cool head can manage it as well.'

'I'm sorry, but I just don't really want to be a part of the military, no offence.'

'Well you wouldn't exactly be in a military role, I mean sure you'd technically be part of the military, but realistically you're duties would have more to do with stuff like building train stations and setting up schools. I'd have thought that would be right up your alley. Just think about all the good you could do,' plied Mustang.

And Al did think about it. He thought of his conversation with Mei and the state the city was in with the rundown buildings and the large number of homeless he'd seen today alone. He could improve that, he knew he could, he wanted to improve it. But at the same time he knew that there were others who could do it just as well as he could, why should he get the job over them? And, more selfishly, he wanted to continue his research into Alkahestry, and he didn't really see how he could do that here.

'I'm sorry, but I'm an alchemist, not an administrator. I'm sure you have plenty of other people to chose from,' Al smiled, his friendly manner belying the strength of his resolve on the matter

Mustang sighed, he'd thought that Ed was the stubborn one, 'Ok, how about this, go home and think about it for a while, and then at the end of the week if you're still don't want to, I'll accept your refusal.'

'If you want, but my answer will be the same.'

'Just think about it ok, anyway, here's Ed's office, I'm sure you have things to talk about.'

'Thanks alot,' smiled Al, 'aren't you coming in?'

'No no, I have to go check to make sure Havoc hasn't killed that Vane kid. There's no time for me to play with the pipsqueak today. See ya later. Don't forget to think about it.'

Al just shook his head and sniggered, him, in charge of infrastructure, how ridiculous.

* * *

'I don't know Ed, I'm not sure if it would work.'

'Just try it Al, who knows, they might be able to show us their home.'

The two brothers were standing in the cell where the chimaera were being kept. On Al's arrival in his office, Ed had wasted no time in explaining his plan. Having heard about what Al did to the chimaera in the desert, Ed figured that he could do the same thing now. Maybe Al could put the drive in one of the chimaera to go back to where it was made. If they could do that, then they might just be able to catch Amrita, or at least learn a thing or two about them.

'Fine but I still don't think this is a good idea.'

Steeping forward Al clapped his hands together and grabbed the chimaera's head, amazingly the beast quietened under his touch. Nothing happened at first, but Ed surmised that that meant he was searching and reading the flows of energy. Eventually a gentle glow began to build beneath Al's hands, before suddenly an intense light burst forth like water shooting from a dam. As the light dimmed down, Ed saw Al struggle to rise.

'Are you all right?' he asked his brother as he offered him a steadying arm.

'Yeah, I'm ok, it just took a bit out of me, that's all. The idea of 'creator's home' is complicated, the idea of leading us there even more so. There were a lot of changes I had to make. But she'll take us there. I got the impression it's somewhere nearby.'

'Excellent. You,' Ed excitedly at one of the guards, 'go to the Garrison and get six squads, tell that they are to follow us and then make a perimeter around wherever this thing takes us. Nothing is to get out. Quickly now, go go go!

Al stared in shock, it was so unlike his brother to throw his rank around. Mustang was right, his brother had taken to the role. Maybe he'd changed since he'd last seen him. _No that's not likely, it's probably just due to this situation and all the responsibilities he has now. _

* * *

The dingy little house that the chimaera lead them to was not what Ed had been expecting. He'd assumed that they'd find some oversized research facility that had a seemingly legitimate business face. Instead they found themselves standing outside of a small rundown suburban house. Only one story high, and probably containing no more than a handful of rooms, it was situated at the very extreme of Central. An area that could only really be described as slums, and the building in question didn't look at all out of place in the neighbourhood. Its broken windows, trashed garden and reams of cobwebs fit in seamlessly with the part of town.

It was so small and nondescript that Ed couldn't help but think that the chimaera had made a mistake. After all it looked like no one had stepped foot in the building for years. Nonetheless the chimaera pointed to it like an arrow. Even now it was desperately pulling on its chain in an attempt to get into the house.

'What do you think Al,' he asked, 'do you think this is right? Maybe you should have another look in its head.'

'Maybe,' mused Al dubiously, 'I don't know if it would help though. I'm pretty confident I got it right. Maybe we should just take a look first, I sense something though, and there might be something we're not seeing.'

'Yeah I suppose you're right,' sighed Ed before turning to nearby Central soldiers, 'ok then, fan out, surround the house, make sure no one gets in or out. There could be anything in there, Al and I will check it out.'

'Sir surely we should go in first to check if it's safe,' protested a sergeant, to which Ed could only snort.

'Frankly if there's something in there that would give us trouble then it'd get to us eventually regardless of whether you went in there. It'll be fine, I need you out here to make sure no civilians get involved.'

'Yes sir,' saluted the man, thinking better of protesting too much.

Nodding, Ed proceeded to order that the chimaera be released from its chain. The beast leaped forward, gracefully avoiding the debris that was scattered around the house's garden. It seemed to be taking care in picking its path, deliberately taking a winding route to the front door. Ed took care to note the path exactly, and he noticed that Al was doing the same. If this was an Amrita hideout, then they were bound to have set traps, and the last thing they needed was to get caught before they began.

It took some effort, and a lot of swearing on Ed's part, but they eventually managed to retrace their guide's steps and make it to what passed for the door. The chimaera hadn't waited for them, but had chosen to ghost silently into the building through an inconspicuous opening in the wall of the porch. Slipping in through the same opening and looking around, they saw that house was much the same on the inside as it was on the outside. Broken furniture and scrap pieces of wood were liberally strewn across a large room which seemed to take up most of the houses floor space. It was relatively disappointing and a quick scan of the place revealed nothing out of the ordinary, the place was even filled with dust and cobwebs, giving the distinct impression that there was no one living here.

'Well this is just about as abandoned as it gets,' sighed Ed, 'maybe our guide just doesn't understand?'

Al however wasn't listening; he stood instead staring curiously at the ground.

'Al? Hello? AL!'

'What?' blinked Al, looking up in surprise.

'I said this is a dead end. What's up with you?'

'It's not a dead end.'

'Huh? Look at this place it's completely empty, no one has been here for ages.'

'I can feel it, they're people here. Mostly below us, there's a large concentration of people a couple of metre's below us.'

'Really? Are you sure, well only one way to find out,' grinned Ed, clapping his hands together and kneeling to the floor.

'Wait.'

'What?'

'Not yet. Get up, slowly. There's something else, it's faint, but I can just feel it. They're here as well, five, no six of them. They're in the walls.'

'Sneaky aren't they. I suppose we've come to the right place then. Let's see if we can't get them to show themselves.' Stepping forward, Ed began to make his way around the room tapping the walls as he did so. Eventually he stopped, having found a panel that made a different sound to the rest.

A smug grin creased his face as he continued to tap the panel, 'here we go.'

Mid tap the wall in front of him exploded into a shower of splinters; a pair of shiny black pincers reaching out to crush Ed's skull. It was fast, but he'd been expecting it. Even as it came at him he was dodging backwards away from its reach, his hands working quickly in the space between them. He stopped abruptly, letting the vicelike pincers snap close a hair's breach from his throat. For a moment the scene was frozen, the chimaera staring in shock and Ed staring back, his look utterly lacking in concern. Then the beast crumpled to the ground, a series of shallow but well placed cuts bursting open and draining it of its strength.

'They're certainly ugly bastards aren't they,' laughed Ed breaking the moment of stunned silence that followed the attack. Suddenly the room was filled with shards of wood, as five more chimaera burst from the walls around them. Spider, lizard, centipede and a pair of beetle's, all blended with humans slithered and scampered towards them, breaking off into two groups to attack them simultaneously.

The hard-shelled human rhinoceros beetles charged Al, lowering their heads in an attempt to skewer him on their horns. He whispered past them, a sigh of air gliding past their mindless assault. The beasts skidded to a halt, preparing to make another pass only to discover that their foe had charged them. Getting in close and personal with the beetle's Al was able to stop them from charging again, the only problem was that he was unarmed and his foes were heavily armoured. Dancing through a series of clumsy and wild attacks, he tapped the armour plating under the chin on one of them, softening the area to normal human levels. He wasted no time in delivering a powerful kick to the beast's exposed chin, toppling the armoured giant. Flowing with the movement, he back-flipped away from other's attack, clapping his hands together before landing in a handstand. At his contact with the floor, there was a flash of alchemic light and the ground beneath the remaining beast heaved, a giant fist smashing the poor creature into the ceiling.

Ed was left with the other chimaera. The human-centipede was the first to reach him, scampering quickly across the ground; it reared up in front of him, mimicking its partner by trying to catch him in its pincers. He dodged around it easily, and kicked back, planting his foot in the centipede's back; using the force of his kick to launch himself at the lizard. A pair of scaly clawed hands reached out for him, only to meet the steel of his automail blade. The creature screeched in pain at the cut's the blade inflicted on its arms, in too much pain to block the whip crack punch to the throat. Ed left it on the floor gasping for air.

Ed turned, barely managing to dodge a glob of mucus that the spider had shot at him. A sizzling sound started when the glob hit the table behind him, causing the wood to corrode. Clapping, he transmuted a rusty old couch into a weighted net, which he hurled at the spider. It was dazed for a moment but then quickly started to break loose. But that moment was all Ed needed to close the distance between them. Appearing behind it, he cut off the creatures poison sack with surgical precision, delivering a quick blow to the back of the head to drop him.

By this time the centipede had recovered itself, sneaking around in the periphery, waiting for an opening. Thinking it had found its chance it shot forward like lightning, its pincer's clamping down with brutal force. Casually lifting his automail arm, Ed grabbed the creature between its pincers just before it reached him. The crushing force couldn't stand up to the automail's metal, black skeletal pieces flying off in all directions under the impact.

'Nobody makes them like Winry,' smirked Ed, before stepping forward and planting his fist in the chimaera's stomach. Winded the creature staggered forward, allowing Ed to ground it by smashing his elbow into the small of its back, making sure to hit the same spot he'd kicked. The creature hit the ground, hard, and didn't seem likely to get back up. Rolling the limp form over with his foot Ed saw that it was unconscious.

'Well that went well,' said Al cheerily.

'Hmmpf,' was his only reply, as Ed moved back to the middle of the room.

Kneeling down, he calmly transmuted the ground, making a hole appear before them. The soft glow of artificial light spilled into the room, confirming Al's suspicions. Looking down they could see that the tunnel opened up after a couple of metres down.

'Was that really necessary brother? There's probably a door around here somewhere,' sighed Al.

'Yeah but there's probably more traps, besides this is quicker. Come on, let's see what they've got down there.' Without a further word, Ed vaulted down the hole, leaving Al to only stare on in exasperation, and eventually scramble down after him.

* * *

Please review and tell me what you think :)


	9. In the Mouth of a Lion

**Disclaimer: I don't own fullmetal alchemist or any of it's characters... **

**Back again! (Finally)**

**Thanks to all those who have reviewed... and please keep it up!**

**Hope you enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

Ed landed in a brightly lit corridor, the sound of his fall masked by a cacophony of barking, screeching and hissing. The almost clinical white-washed walls were packed to the ceiling with cages, each one holding a single bedraggled captive in its cramped confines. Varying in size, the cages held a range of different species, from spiders to dogs to cowering humans. Quivering with fear their exposed flesh revealed signs of brutal beatings and what could only be the hastily restitched work of a scalpel. It was clear that they'd been the subject of some sort of twisted experiment, and Ed didn't doubt that the animals had been similarly treated.

Rushing over to the nearest person's cell, Ed was horrified to see that their only reaction to his presence was to curl into a tighter ball.

'What's your name,' he softly called to gaunt form in front of him. He only received a barely audible whimper of fear in response.

'I'm here to help you,' he tried again. This time however he was met with silence. Whatever these people had clearly traumatized them to the point where they couldn't trust him no matter what he said, if they could even understand him at all.

Ed heard a soft thud behind him, followed by a soft, 'Oh. Those poor people.'

Ed felt his hands tightening around the bars of the cage. His entire body was shaking in a mixture of disgust and anger. For people to be reduced to nothing more than whimpering masses of flesh, incapable of even recognising a chance of freedom, it went beyond horrifying. He could feel a cold grip of pure fury grip around his heart, a mindless all-consuming rage the like of which he hadn't felt since confronting Shou Tucker. It was an abomination, an action beyond redemption; there would be no forgiveness for the monster behind this.

'Al,' whispered Ed, a tremor in his voice, 'how many are there down here?'

'I can't tell. The chi of everything in here is screaming with pain and fear, the chaos is stopping me from getting a clear count. There are definitely hundreds though, and there are more rooms than this one,' replied Al in a small voice.

Ed unconsciously grasped his chest, his breathing suddenly becoming haggard. Over a hundred! It was unthinkable, it was inhuman. And worse yet, how many of those had already become chimaeras?

'Can you feel them? The people who did this?'

'Maybe, there's an area where the life-force seems to get less dense.'

'Good,' Ed growled, his voice turning dark and firm, 'we need to stop them Al. We need to hunt them down and shove them in the deepest hole that we can find.'

'I know Ed. But maybe we should do something to help them first,' replied Al, gesturing around him.

'There are just so many Al. What could we do for them now?' Ed sighed, staring at the shaking person in the cell, 'we need to find the people who did this.'

After a pause, Al nodded in agreement; he hated leaving these people like this, even if it was just for now. But he also knew that Ed was right, if they wanted to stop this from ever happening again then they had to find the team of alchemists responsible first.

'Come on, it's this way,' he said, grabbing Ed's arm and pulling him down the corridor.

They walked in silence at first, each of them staring around them in horror at row upon row of howling beasts. Eventually however, Al broke the silence in an effort to escape from facing the poor creatures.

'Where do you think they all came from?' he asked, 'all these people, surely the military should have noticed.'

'I'm not sure,' frowned Ed, 'there have been the occasional reports of disappearances for a while now, but nothing like this.'

'Maybe they've been here for years; slowly picking people up one by one.'

'Maybe,' replied Ed dubiously, 'then again, there have been a lot of demolitions in Central lately. The whole city is undergoing haphazard construction. Maybe these are people who lost their homes to development companies.'

That sounded like it was probably true, Al had seen the number of homeless wondering the streets even in his brief time in central.

'It should have been dealt with by now. But for some reason the Minister for Infrastructure has been away. So all of this kind of stuff has been pushed to one side. No-one really seemed to care about a handful of homeless. But then, I suppose no-one imagined something like this,' reflected Ed sadly, unaware of the feelings he was eliciting in Al.

Doubt crept into Al at Ed's words, weakening his previous resolve in regards to Mustang's offer. If what Ed said was true, and the military didn't really care, what's to stop something like this from happening all over again. Will they bother to do something about the homeless population? About public services like the hospital being so understaffed that people like Ms Allan were having to take leadership positions. They only really cared about the people enough to make sure that no other country had the chance to kill them. That realisation troubled him greatly; he couldn't bear to think that there was no one to stand up for people in that position. To look after them, represent them, fight for them. Could he really turn his back on them?

They turned a corner and were confronted with a pair of hospital style double-doors. Sharing a quick look and a nod of assent at what they knew the other was thinking, Ed silently counted to three on one hand before kicking the door open and bursting into the room.

Inside wasn't what Ed had been expecting. The room was split into two distinct, but unseparated, areas. One side was an operating room. Row upon row of shiny sterilized tools lined the walls. But it wasn't just the sort of materials usually to be expected in a hospital, the walls alos held a series of hack saws and other vicious blades that would be more at home in a torture chamber than an operating room. On the other side however, the room changed from white tiling to rich wooden flooring, antique book cases and plush leather chairs. The bookcases were filled with various texts on Alchemy and biology, a gold mine of knowledge for human transmutation. Curiously, the room contained a single elderly man idly flipping through a text.

He was a peculiar little man, perhaps only five foot tall, grey hair and an open, friendly face. Shabbily dressed in a baggy black tracksuit and matching gloves, not a single bit of flesh was visible below the neck. Hanging from his neck was a small vial of clear amber liquid, it's brightness in the like looking quite out of place with the rest of his attire. As they entered he looked up from his book and flashed them a welcoming smile.

'Ah finally, I'd almost given up on waiting it took you so long. It really is quite rude to keep your host waiting like this,' the man admonished them.

'You?' muttered Ed incredulously, 'you did all this? You created them? Where's everyone else?'

'Hmmm? Oh! You mean my children out there! Why yes, yes I did. Beautiful chimaeras aren't they, made them all by myself. What did you think of them? Works of art every last one of them, I couldn't be prouder,' smiled the man.

'Y-y-you crazy, evil bastard,' screamed Ed, 'how, how could you do that. Torture and torment all those people. How can you stand there and smile so casually?'

'Well that's rather rude. I hardly think that's called for,' he replied looking offended, ' I've done each and every one of my children a service. Given them the greatest gift I could have, in fact, or will soon once I've found a good match for them. I've liberated those poor souls from the drudgery of their lives, given them shelter and food, and then transformed them into something unique and beautiful. Given them power and purpose. And you call me evil? Crazy? Frankly you've hurt my feelings.'

'YOU FREAKING PSYCHOPATH,' bellowed Ed, running forward, transmuting his arm into a sword as he did so, 'YOU DESERVE TO BE IN A CAGE.'

Sighing, the man placed his book on the table and rose to his feet, 'I had hoped we could be more civil about this, but seeing as you insist.'

Ed swung wildly at him blind with rage, raining down a furious storm of blows on the diminutive man. Despite his age however, the man appeared to be quite agile, easily avoiding the attacks with minimal movement. Seeing the difficulty Ed was having, Al joined the fight. More controlled with his attacks he chose his blows carefully, trying to maximise his chance at making contact. To his surprise however, the man avoided both their blows just as easily.

'Must we really do this? I'll have you know that there is no way you can beat me. I mean look at you, so limited by those ungainly forms. How could you possibly hope to even land a single blow on me.'

'You experimented on yourself?' asked Al incredulously still throwing punches wherever he could.

'Of course I did! Why wouldn't I? What's an artist without his masterpiece?'

'You're crazy,' growled Ed.

'You know, I think I have a way to make you understand. Maybe I should let you feel the freedom of being a chimaera, the joy of joining yourself with another creature. Then you'd understand,' the man said kindly as he ducked under one of Ed's kicks and stepped over to a bookshelf.

Arming himself with a particularly thick alchemy book, the man launched himself at Al delivering a resounding blow the side of the young man's head. He did it so quickly that Al didn't have a chance to avoid it. The sheer force of the blow took him by surprise, the moment it made contact he realised that the little old man was ridiculously strong. The blow might as well have come from Armstrong, with the power of it sending him sailing head first to the other side of the room. Turning back to Ed the man smiled once more, as he pulled a jar of snails from his pocket, and gently extracted its contents.

'Now young man, how about I show you what true beauty is. Now just relax and don't worry, I'm a doctor.'

Like a cannon the man shot forward at Ed, grabbing his face and pinning him to the wall. Ed's eyes widened as a flash of alchemic light surrounded his face, the old man's kind face taking on a crazed and maniacal cast in the blue glow. At the same time the amber liquid around the man's neck began to shake and glow as well, matching the alchemic light in intensity. But even as the light formed it began to fizzle and fade, the energy seeping away harmlessly and dissipating without any visible effect. The snail in his hand however wasn't so lucky; it burst into blue flame and was consumed in seconds. The fire burnt through the man's glove revealing a circular patch of scaly green skin.

'Hmmm, well that's peculiar,' whispered the man.

Not questioning his luck, Ed clapped his hands and smashed them to the floor, creating spikes of rock to skewer the man from either side. Flipping backwards, he avoided the first set, but was nearly caught by the second wave shooting at him from where he landed. He avoided it, but barely, his vial of amber liquid getting ripped from his neck. He frantically tried to grab for it, but by then it was too late, the rock had opened up and swallowed the vial, retreating back into the ground with its prize.

'You will give that back to me,' glared the man in his first display of anger.

'Make me,' snarled Ed, rising from the wall.

'How barbaric. Tell me young man. What exactly are you. Any normal person would have been transmuted into a human-snail just now.'

'Well I assure you that I'm 100% human. As for you, well I'm not so sure,' gritted Ed looking at the spot of green scales.

'Me? Well I –' he began, getting interrupted when Al sprung forward knee first delivering a vengeance blow to the side of his face. Just as Al, the man was sent flying. However he seemed to be in much more control than Al had been. Just as he was about to smash into the wall he twisted in midair, gracefully 'landing' on the wall feet first. His knees bent with the impact, but then miraculously he straightened, standing on the wall, perfectly parallel to the ground.

'Now that was as rude as it was pointless. Didn't I tell you that I am my own masterpiece.'

Ed and Al shared glance, why did things always have to get complicated?

'Oh no, don't you worry, our little clash is over for now. You've given me a lot to think about Mr Fullmetal Alchemist. Yes a lot to ponder. Don't worry though, you'll be hearing from me soon enough, just as soon as I figure out what I can do with you.'

'The hell this is over, you wall-walking creep. I'm not letting you leave here free. Besides, we both know you won't abandon all your 'children''

'Oh? I'll admit it will be a shame to lose so many,' mused the man, walking along the roof to the centre of the room, 'whether I'd be willing to sacrifice them is another matter entirely. After all this is just one lab.'

'Wait, you don't mean...?' whispered Al in a horrified tone.

'Well of course there are more labs, if you have a service such as mine you have a duty to spread it as far and wide as you can, don't you think?'

His body started to disappear, quickly blending into the background until eventually only his white smiling teeth remained, but then they too vanished.

'Get back here!' raged Ed, searching the roof and walls for any sign of him, but of course he was too late. The man's camouflage was absolute, matching perfectly with the roof.

'Let it go Ed, there's nothing we can do, at least we got his lab,' sighed Al, trying to sound like he was actually glad.

'But you heard him Al, there are more. Who knows how many more. Who knows how many more chimaera he's made.'

'But we have this lab, and no matter what he says, the loss of so many and such a library can only be a blow. Plus you got his amber vial, whatever that was.'

It's not right Al, it's just not right,' growled Ed before sinking to the ground to bring the vial to him.

'Oww,' he cried as he went to pick the vial up, 'that's really hot.'

'Really?' said Al taking a poke at it and then picking it up with no problem, 'if anything I'd say it's rather cool.'

'How can you say that? Look here it burnt me,' he said showing his hand.

'Well I'm not having a problem with it.'

'Alright then you just volunteered to look after it, and be careful, he seemed like he wanted it back.'

Al took a moment to fix the string and tie it around his neck before saying, 'so what do you think he was?'

'Some sort of chimaera obviously. Did you see that skin, and his speed, no way he's a normal human.'

'He was as strong as an Ox let me tell you,' murmured Al rubbing at the side of his head.

'Here,' said Ed clapping and touching Al's head to alchemise the wound, 'that should help.'

'Oh wow. When did you learn healing alchemy?'

'I... picked it up somewhere, read a book or two in Creta, no problem,' replied Ed. In reality though he still couldn't remember where he'd learnt it, and combined with the odd things that had happened today and in his fight with the Jack of Diamonds he was starting to get a little bit worried about just what exactly was going on. 'Come on Al, we need to go and get the soldiers to clear this place out.'

Al knew that there was something Ed wasn't telling him, Ed was a terrible liar after all, but decided not to push it, simply saying, 'sure thing, I'll go, you stay here and see if you can find anything useful.'

* * *

It was late by the time they'd finished organising the release of the prisoners and transport of all the evidence and books, and frankly Ed had had enough; he was tired, though physically, or at least perhaps only partially. The tiredness that he was feeling right now was more of a tiredness of spirit. The things he'd seen today, the lack of caring in that Alchemist, left him feeling distraught and wrung out. As he and Al staggered up the steps to his house, Ed's thoughts were dark and a gloom hang over them both that he was positive wouldn't go unnoticed.

Inside though they found Winry and Mei waiting for them. All smiles, they gave them a warm welcome and then rattled on merrily about their day, completely ignoring almost total lack of response they were getting from the brothers.

They'd somehow even managed to make the imposing size of the house seem warm and cosy. Maybe it was the thought of dinner, or maybe it was the enticing smell of a pie baking in the oven or maybe it was just them being there, Ed honestly didn't know. Whatever it was, it was a stark contrast to the otherwise gloomy nature of their day; which for the most part it was a good thing. But in many ways it was a reminder of what those people today had lacked, and what military oversights and bureaucratic fog had allowed to happen.

Ed could tell that Al was having the same thoughts. Much like Ed himself, his brother had withdrawn into himself, not talking but just sitting and listening, all the while in quiet contemplation over the events of the day. It was obvious that their uncharacteristic behaviour, particularly for Ed, was playing on the minds of Winry and Mei, who continually glanced worriedly at them when they thought they weren't looking. Wisely however they decided not to draw attention to it, instead attempting to keep a jovial air and constant stream of conversation. Ed was thankful for their discretion, he didn't see any particular need to distress them about what they'd faced, nor did he really have the energy to go through it with them.

So he listened, he ate, and he gave the occasional half-hearted smile and then at the first opportunity excused himself and went to bed. Al did the same soon after, usually so well mannered, but tonight barely sparing a moment to wish them a good night. At their departure Winry and Mei shared a concerned look but then decided to simply let the brothers get some sleep.

Ed had a fitful night's sleep. Filled with a chaotic flickering of dreams about chimaera's, playing cards and the strange glow of the vial of mysterious amber liquid. By morning he'd managed to settle into some sort of normalcy, and he woke physically, if not mentally, refreshed. Thinking over the events of last night however, he resolved to put on a positive face for Winry, he owed her that much after all she'd done for him. Besides if he was gloomy for too long she'd probably use her wrench to beat it out of him.

In the kitchen he found the others, already breakfasting. Al looked tired, but had clearly made a similar decision as Ed and was at least acting like nothing had happened. Winry looked up and gave him a smile as he entered, which he returned as he pulled up a chair next to her. He made a show of pigging out like usual, consuming anything and everything that was in reach, and it was that more than anything else which seemed to convince Winry that he was ok; her worried look quickly turning to one of disapproval, disgust and dismay.

On arriving at the Central HQ Ed was quickly abandoned by his companions. Mei and Winry heading off to the library and workshop respectively. Al waited with him long enough to see them leave, but then he too excused himself, saying that he had to speak with someone.

On arriving at his office, he spared a quick glance at the day's copy of _Central Intelligence _(which was still reporting along the same lines), before falling on the pile of documents that they'd gathered from the raid yesterday. There was a surprising amount of information about the group here, and Ed was starting to get quite excited about his discoveries when he was interrupted by a messenger.

'The Fuhrer requests your presence in his office immediately sir!' saluted the young soldier.

Ed groaned and got up from his desk, 'I don't suppose you know why?'

'A meeting, sir!'

'Probably wants a report on yesterday,' muttered Ed under his breath, 'all right then, lead on.'

On arriving at the Fuhrer's office Ed was surprised to see that all of the ministers were present. He was particularly surprised that both Armstrong's were present. Although still a tad pale, Alexander Armstrong was as lively as ever, loudly greeting Ed as he entered the room. But the thing that shocked Ed most of all was that Al was in the room, sitting quietly in the corner, apparently in deep conversation with Mustang.

_Why's he here? _Thought Ed hoping that the suspicion that had been growing in his mind recently was unfounded.

'Oh ho, it's the man of the hour,' said the fuhrer around his teacup, gesturing for Ed to take a seat, 'now that we're all here we may begin.'

Despite his statement, the Fuhrer took a moment to take a particularly loud slurp from his cup, taking an exaggeratedly long time to enjoy his sip. 'Well the first order of business is to welcome young Mr Alphonse, who this morning has been kind enough to position of Minister for Infrastructure.'

Ed inhaled sharply. He couldn't say that he was particularly surprised though, it did make sense after all. He just didn't like it. For years he'd fought to keep Al from joining the military, only wanting one of them to be a dog of the state. And Al knew that, and what's more he'd agreed with him. What on earth could have possessed him to join now?

'He is of course granted similar rank as the rest of you, as well as status as an official state Alchemist. I think we can all agree that testing is hardly needed in his case. Hmmm, ho, I think that the _Healing Breeze Alchemist_ is a fitting title, in the hope that the name will reflect his efforts in cleaning up the terrible state the Central is in at the moment.'

'Congratulations young Elric, a fine name it is,' declared Alex, giving Al a spirited pat on the back.

'Thank you,' replied Al, wincing under the blow.

'Now then, onto more pressing matters,' said the Fuhrer turning serious, 'I found on my desk this morning a report of a moderate scale raid performed yesterday. Would you care to elaborate Mr Elric. Fullmetal that is.'

Ed quickly outlined the details of yesterday's attack, glossing over the exchange between himself and the alchemist when the latter had attempted to transform him into a chimaera.

At the end of his story, he continued to say, 'I was just beginning to sort through the various files that we liberated before I was called here. And unfortunately it has confirmed some of our worse concerns.'

'Oh?' said Mustang, 'like what exactly.'

'Well for one thing it seems that our adversary wasn't lying when he said there were other labs and other chimaera. His notes make continual reference to the work he's been doing in various facilities. Unfortunately however, there's no mention of the number or location of these labs. But given the way he writes about them, it's probably fair to assume there are at least another four or so out there.'

'Proposterous,' claimed Olivia, 'It would take years for a lone man to make so many chimaera, it must be a ploy.'

'Normally perhaps, but we're not dealing with normal here. We're dealing with an expert. According to his notes the chimaera he makes are made from one brief moment of alchemy. How he's making such perfectly blended Chimaera so quickly I have yet no idea, but I don't doubt for a minute that he could.'

'Let's assume you're right,' mused Mustang, 'and there are that many out there. Perhaps it means they're planning to overrun central. With that many chimaera at their disposal, it would be a simple matter to take the forces currently in the city, especially if they have any more alchemists like our iron friend from the other day.'

'Ho? So you think it's necessary to bring in more men?' asked the Fuhrer.

'If Fullmetal's intel is even close to accurate, I don't really see we have much of a choice. And even if he's wrong, displaying the state's strength may somewhat deter the _Amrita _organisation.'

'It is most fortunate then that the ongoing wars are quiet of late. We've achieved a truce on all four fronts,' chimed in Alex.

'They'll need special training though, the average infantry man is no match for chimaera. And the sort of training that they're going to have to go through takes time, time which we may not have. Perhaps we should also draw in some of the State Alchemists as well,' mentioned Mustang.

The Fuhrer idly stirred his tea, clearly deep in thought. Eventually though he appeared to make up his mind, 'Ok then, let it be so. Armstrongs I want you two to work on securing central against any attack, internal or external, bring in whatever men you feel you need to and do some work on the weapons we have available. Edward and Roy, you'll both continue in the _Amrita_ investigation, try and identify them as soon as possible, you have discretion to follow any lead you see fit. Alphonse, you're being shoved in on the deep end; you'll have to organise suitable housing for both the incoming soldiers and the increasing numbers of homeless that are being preyed on. At the same time I want you work on improving our communication networks, medical facilities, food channels and other supporting systems. Are we all understood?'

'Yes sir,' resounded around the room.

'Excellent.'

* * *

The first thing Ed did after leaving the meeting was corner Alphonse and politely inquire as to why he'd joined the military.

'You frigging retard,' he growled, barring as many teeth as he could, 'what in hell possessed you to accept that position. Do you want to be a dog of the military?'

'Someone had to do it,' replied Al simply.

'Yeah but it didn't have to flippin' well be you. What about learning Alkahestry? And Xing? You said you loved it there. Are you just going to give up on that?'

'No, not entirely, I'm sure I'll be able to do that sometime, but for now there are things that I need to do. At first I didn't think it had to be me either, but then I realised that anyone who would do it would be from the military themselves. Sure they'd probably help here and there, but at the end of the day the people wouldn't really benefit all that much. The military is only interested in one thing, and that's war. They don't really care about an average citizen much past their strategic value. The homeless would probably be shoved in some hovel somewhere and forgotten about. And after yesterday, well, I couldn't let that happen. Those people deserve better.'

'Yeah, yeah, ok fine, you might have a point. But let me just warn you that I won't be there to help you when Izumi and Pinako come down to kick your arse. Heck you're even on your own against Winry. I'm sure she'll have a thing or two to say about all this.'

At the mention of their former teacher, Al turned a very satisfying shade of white. It was petty Ed knew, but he had to make a stand against this somehow.

'You don't think teacher will be angry do you?' he said worriedly, 'I'm sure she'd understand, once she see's Central, I'm sure she'll forgive me.'

'Nope, she'll kill you. I mean she got mad at me when I became a state alchemist. And let's face it, people expect me to do rash stuff like that. But you, you were supposed to be the level headed one. She'll gut you like a fish.'

'Yes she really is a fine woman that teacher of yours,' smirked Mustang, walking over to talk to them, 'it's a pity she declined a spot in the military.'

'She did?' asked Al in a small voice.

'Yes, something about despising the military, and all those who work for it.'

'Oh no,' Al was visibly worried now, 'maybe I should send her a letter, or give her a call. Maybe it will be better if it comes from me.'

'Ha, good luck with that, that's one strong woman, it'd take a lot to change her mind. Anyway, Al, if you'd be so kind as to give me the amber vial you retrieved. I'll handle the investigation of it, have it properly analysed.'

'I'm not sure if that's such a good idea. The alchemist really seemed like he wanted it back. I should probably keep it on me just in case.'

'We need to analyse it Al, see if it's anything worthwhile or just a false clue.'

'I don't think it's too much of a problem,' grinned Ed cockily, 'I took a quick stock of the documents from that lab. It seems we've been lucky enough to get fairly detailed notes on it, I'll take a look then pass on what I think you need to know.'

Mustang of course had too great a self control to rise to the bait, 'I want a full report on this Ed, no mucking me around. If I'm going to help you in this investigation I need to know whatever you know. Do you have any more leads yet?'

'Well I'll know better this afternoon, but for now not really no. We'll need to check the minds of the chimaera that attacked Al in the desert to see if we can find any more of these labs, but I seriously doubt we'll find anything. Other than that, we know that, the only thing we've got to go on is a possibility that _Amrita_ has a connection with the media, and the off chance that that escaped convict has anything to do with all this.'

'Hmmm, we'll need more than that. I'll have Havoc and Fuery look into it.'

'I thought Havoc was looking after that kid?'

'He can juggle both, he's a big boy.'

'Just as long as the poor kid's not put in danger. He's seen enough.'

'Hmmm, yes well, I'm sure he'll keep it in mind. Anyway, I'll talk to you about those documents once you've gone over them. Later you two. Oh and Al, I wouldn't worry about your teacher, you have a much bigger problem in Mei. I took the liberty of telling her myself, and I must say she was quite worked up about it. Good luck.'

A look of panic had spread across Al's face. Despite himself Ed couldn't help from laughing.

'It's your fault brother, your decision. Now you have to face it. Try not to let her hurt you anywhere it'd show, we have to keep up appearances an all.'

And with one final grim chuckle, Ed marched off, leaving a pale and sweating Al to regret not telling Mei immediately.

* * *

'They're starting to take _Amrita _more seriously,' said his partner, her immaculately neat clothes barely disturbed by the wind on the rooftop, 'just like you said they would.'

'Excellent, and they're even ahead of schedule,' replied the Jack of Spades, distractedly rolling a playing card across the back of his hand and staring across the city.

'They've even gone so far as to start recalling troops.'

'Even better, the more they have the merrier. You reckon you'll be able to handle the new forces right?'

'Soldiers are just simple little boys at heart. The live with their drives just under the surface, it shouldn't be too hard to do.'

'How did the rest of the group react?'

'Annoyance and anger mostly. At first they seemed to think it too dangerous to rush things forwards, but I was able to convince them to stay the course. That poor little chimaera maker was more than a little distraught at the time though, I doubt he even realised I was there.'

'Hmpf, I'll never understand him. It's just a measly few chimaera, it's not like he doesn't have plenty of others.'

'He did mention something interesting though.'

'Oh?'

'It seems he tried to perform his tricks on Fullmetal, but couldn't. Claims that there's something strange about him, something that prevented his alchemy. I'd guess that means you were right about him.'

A smile of genuine joy lit up the Jack of Spade's face, 'really? That is interesting. I was more than a little concerned after the incident with his arm. Does _Amrita_ know what he is?'

'No, they have no idea. That may change though; they decided to reassess their position in regards to him. They've decided that he needs to be captured and studied before he can do any more damage. To be honest though, they think he's dangerous; there's strong support for just simply killing him.'

'Ha! They seriously think that they could kill him huh? Well I suppose that as he is they might have a chance. Unfortunately however, I need him alive, and I need him free. He's not yet ready, he needs to be free to grow and realise his potential.'

'So what are you going to do? That is, if they decide to put their plans in action.'

'I'll intervene if I absolutely have to. But I really don't want it to have to come to that. Did they say how they were going to do it?'

'All I know is that the King of Diamonds volunteered. Something about it being a chance to correct the balance.'

'Ha, no surprises there. Just out of prison and he finds some young upstart in his place. I can't say that I'm surprised that he plans on taking action.'

'What does this all mean for us? What do we do now?'

'Now? Now we wait, the pieces are in motion. We watch and see what happens. And if it turns out we have to pull the pipsqueak out of the fire, then maybe then we'll start to move.'

* * *

**Well that's it for this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it**

**I wasn't really sure about this chapter so I'd really appreciate some feedback on it if anyone is willing... **


	10. A Glint of Amber

Finally back! Got distracted writing some other stories, that I'll likely never release... well that and University restarted... anyway though enough of the excuses...

I'd like to thank everyone that's been kind enough to review, and strongly encourage you to continue doing so... The more the merrier... I would like to note that my intention is, starting next chapter to change my use of speech brackets and thought to the more standard " for speech and ' for thoughts. I agree that it will make things easier to understand.

Just as a quick note, I would like to make it clear that Mei is a bit older in this story, just to, you know make the whole AlXMei thing less... weird

* * *

Ed sighed and rubbed his eyes, once again he was coming home tired, it was starting to become the norm for him now. It was a week and a half after the incident with the chimaera, and he'd spent the whole time sorting through the information they'd gathered. Even with his alchemy enhanced reading methods it was a big job to pour through an entire library of information.

Most of the stuff had been biology texts and notes about transmuting animals and people, and that was the sort of stuff that Ed wanted to know nothing about. But if years of studying had taught him anything, it was that to get to the good information you had to wade through reams of rubbish. And, in the end, he had found a handful of gems; a clue here, an idle comment there, he noticed it all and filed it away in his mind to be considered later. He still didn't have a huge amount to go on, but at least now he was armed with slightly more knowledge.

He stumbled through the front door and into the lobby, calling out to see if anyone was home.

'Just me,' called back Winry, 'I'm in the lounge.'

Entering he found her curled up on the couch before the fire, her nose in another automail text.

'Where are Al and Mei?' asked Ed as he collapsed into the spot next to her on the couch.

'They said they were going to the Central Botanical Gardens, I figured that they were going to be making out so I decided not ask too much about it.'

'What? Why would they be? I mean since when have they been, you know.'

Winry gave him a long suffering look over the top of her book, 'you have got to be kidding me. Mei says they've been having these little walks of theirs for about a year now.'

'A year?' burst out Ed stunned, 'first he takes a job with the military and now this. Why didn't he tell me?'

'He probably assumed you knew. They've been fairly obvious about the whole thing.'

'Not to me they haven't!'

'Oh please. And what does it matter anyway, they like each other, they're happy, they can do whatever they want.'

'Yeah but why with her? She's so annoying.'

'Oh you don't mean that, Mei's kind and sweet, she's perfect for him and you know it.'

'Hmpf, I'm not so sure about that. Still think they could have said something.'

'Well maybe I suppose, it's not like Al to forget how dense you are.'

'I'm not dense. I just have a lot on my mind, that's all.'

'No, you're dense alright. You've crammed too much of that Alchemy rubbish in there, you can't fit anything else in there. Even when you're looking at signs obvious to an idiot.' For some reason she gave a small sigh at the end.

'Heh,' Ed laughed softly ignoring the sigh, he'd missed this banter, he didn't really get much time for it anymore, 'at least my head isn't full of automail. Heaven forbid if that ever happened, I couldn't imagine anything worse.'

Winry lowered her book and delivered a long and steady gaze. Ed noticed that her wrench was sitting on the floor next to the couch, conspicuously insider her reaching distance.

'Umm, ahh,' he stumbled trying to distract her, 'have we got any food?'

She sighed again and pointed at a covered tray on the coffee table, 'just take the lid off of that, I kept some for you.'

'Oh wow, thanks,' he replied falling on the food with a passion, 'so how was your day?'

'Busy, Al's got me making arms and legs for all the homeless he's started sheltering. There's just so many of them, I'm not sure I'll ever be finished. But that's fine with me, I'm getting paid on commission after all.'

Ed paused for a moment at a mention of the homeless, but then continued eating at an astonishing speed as if nothing had happened. Eventually he paused long enough to mutter, 'I dare say you'll be getting even more soon.'

'What's that supposed to mean?' she asked sharply.

'Nothing, just a hunch, the way things are now, things are going to get worse before they get better.'

'Why? What do you think is going to happen?' she asked worriedly, her book laying discarded next to her.

'I don't know. But who knows, maybe I'm just over thinking things,' he smiled, as he finished the last of his dinner, 'if nothing else, I've had this arm for nearly two weeks now, I'm sure I'll figure out a way to break it soon.'

'Yeah if you want a wrench for a face,' she glowered, straightening in her spot so that she could try and loom over him.

'Don't worry, I'm _sure _it's made of sturdier stuff than that, right? I mean it'd have to be pretty pathetic to break after two weeks. It's got to be stronger than that.'

'Damn straight it is. It's my masterpiece, so you better not damage it.'

'You say that about all the arms you build me.'

'That's because it's true of all the arms I build you, but then you just go and get into a fight and destroy it,' she sighed, shifting closer and tiredly resting the side of her head on his shoulder, 'you better not destroy this one. You better not get into any fights.'

Ed froze at the feeling of her resting on his shoulder. It was a surprisingly nice feeling, it wasn't a great deal of contact but for some reason he suddenly became very aware of her. That simple little contact of her head on his shoulder was a nice feeling, it made him feel reliable, strong even.

'You know I can't do that Winry. I have to do what I have to do. And that could well mean getting into a fight here and there.' _Or bloody well everywhere at the rate its going._

Not moving her head from his shoulder, she casually entwined her arm through his and took rested her hand on his. Ed couldn't help but smile despite the serious tone; she was so cute when she was like this.

'I know, but at least promise me you'll be careful.'

'Of course I'll be careful, and besides, I've got the entire military to back me up.'

'It only takes one bullet Ed. Be careful.'

There really wasn't much he could say to that, and so instead he just sat in silence and enjoyed the feeling of sitting so close together. It wasn't long before he heard the faint sound of snoring form his shoulder. Making sure to support her, he stood up and picked her up, ignoring the half-asleep sounds of protest and carried her to her room. He walked in and immediately felt his face heat at the memory of the last time he'd been in here. Placing her on the bed, he put the covers over her, turned out the light and returned to the lounge room and waited for Al and Mei to return.

* * *

It was late when Al and Mei returned, trundling through the front door arm in arm. They mingled for a while in the hallway, giggling softly between them mired deep in the enchantment of young love. They would say goodnight, kiss and part ways, only to find themselves in the other's arms again almost immediately afterwards.

Eventually though Mei succeeded in disentangling both her mind and body from the gently smiling Al, and pushed through into her room, bidding him a goodnight as she did so. Walking to his own room, Al noticed that Ed's door was open, and his room empty. Suddenly suspicious (and hopeful) of his brothers whereabouts, he cast out his senses to locate his brother. Much to his disappointment he located him in the library, and not in Winry's room as he'd been hoping. Despite the hour, Al decided to check in on him.

'Oh hey Al, I didn't hear you come in,' Ed muttered from around a pile of books as Al entered.

'Yeah, Mei and I just got back a little while ago, why are you still up?'

'I wanted to talk to you about the Chimaera situation, and see how you've been going with that vial.'

'Oh, yeah I've been studying it whenever I get a minute. But it's been fairly hectic so I haven't really been able to give it the time it deserves.'

'Have you found out anything yet?'

'Sort of. From what I can tell it seems to be some sort of alchemic aid.'

'Like a philospher's stone?' Ed replied sharply, alert intensity suddenly filling his gaze.

'Well yes and no. Like the stone it seems to have some catalysing effect, improving the strength of alchemy and so on, but it seems more than that. There's some weird interference whenever I look into it or try and use it. Like there's energy within it that is cancelling mine out, or confusing it. What's more the actual structure of the liquid makes it dangerous. Its unstable, it strengthens alchemy but it does so erratically, and there seems to be some sort of weird feedback to the user, not all of the power is channelled to the alchemy, some of the energy acts on the alchemist.'

'Really? How dangerous would you say it is?'

'It's hard to say really. I'm not very experienced with it, and I don't understand this interference in the liquid so that might be making it harder for me, but it seems really quite dangerous. To both the user and anyone subject to the alchemy. I just tried alchemising a glass of water into gas with it, and just as I thought it was working the whole thing exploded.'

'Oh. Maybe you just lost control?'

'Yeah, I suppose that's possible,' said Al, knowing that he'd never make such a fundamental mistake, and knowing that Ed knew it too, 'but it really felt like it was something extra from the liquid. There was just a sudden surge of power, and bam, it exploded.'

'Weird. Be careful with it, if it's really that volatile who knows what might happen.'

'How about you? How has your research been going? Any closer to finding anything else out?'

'Well I've discovered that that alchemist we met in the chimaera den went by the code name King of Spades, and that he was probably telling the truth about having other labs. There was just too much information in his notes about them for it to be otherwise. Annoyingly though I wasn't able to find out where they are, or about what they were planning. I did find out a lot about what he was doing there, or rather how he was doing it. He writes a lot about that liquid, frankly most of what you said seemed to fit with the impression of it I got from his notes.'

'Oh yeah? What does he say? Can we trust it?'

'Not completely no, he writes in code like all alchemists, and seems to have been inserting mistakes into his notes on purpose besides.'

'So it's useless then?'

'Yes and no. I know that he was using the liquid to make chimaera, and that that's how he managed it so fast. But it seems he got the liquid from someone, so the chances are he has more available to him. Though in saying that he did say it was precious, so I'd keep an eye out if I were you. The real surprise though was that its name is _Amrita, _seems the group is named after this liquid, or maybe the other way around. Either way I think it's a pretty clear sign that the stuff is important.'

'Was there anything about the other members?'

'Just a few unhelpful comments about the leader. And my initial hypothesis that there was a member for each of the royalty cards has been confirmed. I guess knowing how many there are out there is useful, if worrying.'

'Nothing about their abilities?'

'Nothing at all. I got the impression that he didn't know.'

'Shame. Anyway though, it is past midnight, and I really should get some sleep tonight.'

'Yeah, I'm going to stay up for a while though, I have to think about what to do next. Night Al.'

'Goodnight Ed.'

Ed closed his book and leaned back in his chair, listening to the fading sounds of Al's footsteps. Soft light formed shadows across his face, deepened by the furrow in his brow. Tomorrow was not going to be an easy day. He couldn't just sit around and wait for them to act. He had to figure out a way to take the fight to them, with so many of them, anything else would be suicide.

* * *

'Sir!' saluted the pair of soldiers as Mustang approached them.

'At ease,' he replied, 'now where is he? What's he done now?'

'Sir we found him sneaking around in the prison cells sir. He was near where we're keeping the chimaera.'

'Really, right well I'll take care of him from here, just give him to me.'

'Sir.' Replied one of the soldiers with another smart salute. Pivoting on the spot the soldier disappeared into a nearby room, appearing again moments later holding Mustang's charge James by the scruff of the neck. Depositing him in a chair, the soldiers saluted once more and left.

'Well then James, care to explain what you were doing down here?'

'I was exploring,' replied the boy sullenly from beneath a heavy glare.

'Ahuh, and why did you chose down here exactly?'

This caused the kid to glare all the harder, 'everyone was coming down here, so I wanted to see what was happening.'

'Right, and how did you get passed Havok?'

'He was busy talking to that big guy's secretary,' smirked Vane, clearly showing that he didn't have that high of an opinion of Havok.

'Hmm, well I'll have to do something about that. You're not to come down here again, do you understand? If I catch you down here again, I might have to punish you in a way that will be a bit more permanent than your liking,' said Mustang dryly, meeting the boys stare and flexing his fingers menacingly.

Mustang was looking right at him as he said this so he was sure that he didn't imagine it. For the briefest of moments the kid's glare turned into something much deeper and darker. A look of utter fury contorted the young man's features, his fists suddenly clenched, and his teeth barred in a vicious snarl. But most incredibly of all, and what Mustang later convinced himself had to be a trick of the light, his eyes suddenly glinted a sickly malevolent yellow. But then just as quickly as the expression appeared it was replaced by his comparatively friendly glare.

'Fine,' he replied, as if nothing had happened.

'Good,' murmured Mustang, slightly disconcerted and doubting his vision, 'now go find Havok again, I'm going to give him a call in 20 minutes, and if you're not with him then there'll be hell to pay.'

He sat and watched him run off, _I couldn't have just imagined it could I? _He thought to himself, _I must be tired, yellow eyes, how ridiculous. But why was he down here at all?_

* * *

'Sir,' saluted one of Ed's aides as he walked into his office.

'Good morning Corporal,' muttered Ed vaguely as he slumped into his chair.

'If I may sir, you look quite tired this morning,'

'Yes, late night thinking. Anyway, what do you have to report today?'

'The papers have been growing increasingly, umm, creative in their descriptions of the military and yourself sir.'

'What do you mean.'

'Well sir, as you know much of gossip is focused around your ahhh friend, Ms Rockbell.'

'Yes, yes I know about that, what about it?'

'Well it's grown a bit less subtle and polite sir.'

Ed felt a vein pulse in his head, 'fantastic, are they doing any actual reporting?'

'Well they seem to be very well informed about recent situation with the chimaeras sir.'

'Yes I suspected that they might be, well what way have they taken it.'

'Well there seem to have been two main responses, the first is a general attack against the administration of the state, the other seems to be aimed primarily at yourself sir. Accusing you of being both sadistic and incompetent, they've somehow managed to work it so that you seem to be the one who's caused all this.'

'That's ridiculous, I wasn't even in the country when all this started.'

'Yes well, they're doing their best to gloss over that. Not to worry though sir, you're stance as a hero of Amestris makes the vast majority of people ignore the allegations. However, we have been receiving increasing number of complaints about soldiers causing a ruckus in town. And the media have also seized on this and are using it to drive home their point.'

Ed could feel a headache coming on, he would have to do something about this whole media situation, it was becoming increasingly apparent that they were eating out of the hand of someone, he just couldn't prove it. And without proof he couldn't just march in and shut down the voice of the so-called liberal media, especially when they'd been reporting on him so much lately. All he could do for the time being was wait.

'Okay then, that's fine there's nothing we can do about that for now,' replied Ed after a few moments, 'but the moment we receive any solid evidence of shady business going down I want you to inform me. Or if I'm unavailable the next person in charge, this is our best lead for the time being and so it takes precedence over everything, understood?'

'Yes sir.'

'Good, as for the sudden spike in unruly behaviour in the ranks, I want you to make it known that anyone found to be acting in a dangerous or disrespectful manner will be punished swiftly and harshly. Make examples of people if you have to, just make sure they all know that I'm putting my foot down on it.'

'Yes sir.'

'Excellent, was there anything else?'

'Mr Elric sir!' answered a different soldier as he careened into Ed's office, 'we have a situation sir! There's been an attack at the new homeless centre. Some sort of alchemic attack, 7 civilians dead 10 more injured sir.'

'Suspected Amrita involvement?'

'Yes sir, it seems so, a very overt attack.'

'What kind of alchemy?'

'Plant based, it's as if the entire first floor has become a jungle sir.'

'Understood, arrange for transport for myself to the scene. Also organise for any injured to be taken to the hospital, and for Winry to meet them there if there are any who will require automail. Further, there are two alchemists I want located and brought to the scene. Their names are Russell and Fletcher Tringham, they are to be treated with respect but they're potential suspects so be wary of what they're told.'

'Sir, yes sir!' saluted the two soldiers in his office before bustling out.

As much as Ed hated to admit it, if he was really honest with himself, he was starting to enjoy ordering people around.

* * *

20 minutes later and Ed was pulling up to a 3 storey building that had been converted into a temporary homeless centre. On the outside the building seemed almost perfectly normal, with the exception of a hive of military personnel swarming around it. On the inside it was a completely different matter. Stepping into the building, Ed was faced with hallways and rooms lined with plants. Trees, shrubs, ivies, weeds the covered the building's interior like a plague. Infesting every corner and seeping into every crack in the walls.

'Just how much of the building is covered liked this?' Ed asked a nearby soldier.

'It's just the first floor sir.'

'And how exactly did this injure people, they seem fairly harmless.'

'They said that when they first grew here, the plants were attacking wildly and viciously, sir. We had to cut free one poor man from an arm of Ivy that had choked him to death,' replied the soldier nervously, as his eyes darted across the room and his hands visibly tightened on his likely redundant rifle. 'We're keeping the witnesses in observation just outside if you wanted to question them sir.'

'Hmmm, yes that might be the best thing, take me to them.'

A hastily erected tent, guarded by a pair of soldiers, served as a medical bay and observation area. Inside Ed was shown to the oldest of the witnesses. A 50-odd year old man with wide, slightly crazed eyes, and wearing the shabby garb of a man who had long been on the streets, he didn't seem like the most reliable of witnesses. But of all of them he seemed to be in the best shape, so Ed didn't really have much of a choice.

'Hello there, I'm Edward Elrich, the Fullmetal Alchemist, I was just wondering if I could have a few words.'

'I've all ready said all there is to say to you darn army folk,' spat back the man, literally spraying saliva on each word.

'Well yes, but I'd like to hear it directly from you, if you're willing.'

'Bah, like it'll make a difference. But fine if you be so keen. I'd just gotten here today see, and I was starting to settle in, getting meself all nice and comfy, when it all went down. I was in the common room talking to the chef about what 'e was making us for lunch, when bam, flash of light and I hear screaming. Was a wee little girl, and right there in front of her was a tree. Small and runty, but it was a tree, standing there as if it'd been there for years. People were pointing and whispering, but that all changed when a second tree did go and appear, and a third. A whole jungle of the blighters suddenly grew, poof, they just sprung out from them floorboards. And then they started to move, swinging them branches and trying to catch or hit anything they could. Everything turned to hell, people were screaming and shoving and trying to get out the door as quickly as possible while dodging the plants. Them trees reached out and grabbed mitch, haven't seen him since. Asked the guards but they wouldn't say anything.'

'Did you see anyone suspicious looking before the incident?'

'Not really, was more interested in getting something to eat, which I still haven't done.'

'Are you sure, there wasn't anyone out of place, might have been drawing a circle on the ground?'

'No nothing like that. Sorry I can't tell you more mate.'

'That's alright, if you think of anything make sure one of the soldiers.'

'Any chance of getting something to eat sir?'

'Yes of course,' replied Ed before turning to a nearby guard, 'corporal see to it that these people get something warm to eat.'

'Yes sir,' saluted the man before marching out of the tent.

_Maybe the trees can tell me something, _Ed thought without too much hope, plant alchemy wasn't an area he'd ever given much investigation. Stepping out of the tent, he shaded his eyes from the sudden glare of the sun and sighed before heading back into the building. Spying a group of military scientists investigating one of the trees, he stepped over to them hoping they'd discovered something.

'Have you found anything yet?'

'Oh! Sir, I didn't see you arrive,' murmured a particularly flustered looking scientist, 'hum, no sir nothing really yet. This is the first time we've ever seen plant alchemy sir, I didn't even think it was possible.'

'No, no, it's quite possible, just very rare. One of the witnesses said that they all sprung from under the floorboards, meaning that's likely where the circle was drawn, perhaps you should start there.'

'Oh, yes of course. Hum, maybe if we see the circle we'll be able to understand it a bit better.'

'Don't stress on that too much, I'm bringing in some experts. Make sure you also see if you can learn anything from the injured before they're shipped to central hospital.'

'Hum, I'm afraid that they've already been sent sir.'

'No matter, I'll visit them myself then.'

'What were you saying about experts sir?'

'Hmmm? Oh yes, I've sent for a pair of plant alchemists, in fact I see them coming through the door now, excuse me.'

It took only a cursory glance over to Russell and Fletcher Tringham to piss Ed off to no end. It wasn't so much Fletcher, but Russell that annoyed him. The bastard had always been a tall git, but had someone managed to gain another couple of inches since Ed had last seen him. He'd been hoping that his recent growth spurt would put them on par, but that dream got brutally crushed. Fletcher was taller than him as well, but he at least wasn't one to rub it in Ed's face; so he wasn't as bothered.

'Edward,' called out Fletcher joyously as soon as he noticed him. The uncomplicatedly happy look he gave him, made Ed re-realise how similar Fletcher was to Alphonse.

'Fletcher, a pleasure to see you again,' smiled Ed, before straightening up and taking on a more serious look, 'Russell.'

'Hello pipsqueak. I heard you managed to weasel your way up a few notches,' replied Russell, taking on the aloof demeanour that Ed was usually known for.

'Yes, I hear you two have been studying abroad for a while,' smiled Ed in what he hoped was a pleasant way. Inside he was boiling with rage, but he knew he had to swallow it for now, 'I also heard that you applied to take the state alchemist exam next month.'

'Yup, we want to get access to the state library, there's bound to be plenty about plants in there,' sang out Flecther.

'Really? Well that is interesting,' smiled Ed, knowing he now definitely had a bargaining chip.

'And we're very busy at the moment, so if you could just make your offer we'll get to it,' said Russell bluntly.

'I see you're still as sharp as ever,' muttered Ed, rather happily abandoning his politeness, 'ok fine. I think you know why I want you here. I assume that the men I sent to bring you here questioned you about you're whereabouts in the last day or so?'

'Yes, they were very thorough.'

'Good, even though I know you have a bit of a penchant for deceit, I think I'm safe to go ahead and assume you're all clear. Now then, what do you think of all this,' said Ed gesturing about him.

'It's very interesting, fairly high-level alche-' started Fletcher only to be cut off by his brother.

'What we think of this depends on what you want to give us for the information.'

Ed couldn't help but smile, he could say what he would about Russell, but talking to him was certainly refreshing, 'you do this for me, and I might see my way to putting in a good word for you at the state alchemist selection board.'

'Oh that would be gre-' chirped Fletcher only to be cut short again.

'No dice Fullmetal, we both know you're on that board and that you're going to be accepting the best, and we both know that that's going to be us.' He was right, Ed couldn't deny it, alchemists of their level didn't come along very often.

'Well then what do you propose?'

'We want to skip the exam, get instated as state alchemists and get all the benefits that entails, including access to the state libraries. We also want your word that you'll do what you can to keep us from engaging in any of the wars. And one more thing.'

The demands were surprisingly reasonable, if he was honest he'd be getting benefits from having them registered with the state, and their skills were more research based in nature besides. It was just that last one which troubled him, 'and what's that?'

'That depends on whether I'm right about my initial analysis of this alchemy.'

'And what's that?'

'A bargaining chip that I'm not going to just give up.'

'I can't agree to your terms if I don't know them.'

He seemed to think it over for a few minutes, eventually coming to a conclusion, 'fine. As I'm sure you know there are only so many alchemists who could do something like this, and even less who would. I'll have to do some tests, but if I'm right about who did this, well I want your word that I'll be the one to bring them down.'

'Brother, no –' cried Fletcher.

'Those are you terms?'

'Yes,' replied Russell ignoring his brother's pleas, 'and we won't take anything less.'

Ed knew that look, it was one that he'd worn when he'd decided to become a state alchemist, a mixture of determination and resignation. He couldn't help but feel a moments doubt. He knew that he needed them, but deep down he didn't really want to sucker them into the military like Mustang had done to him. Even if the older one was a bastard. But at the end of the day he didn't really have a choice.

'If I agree to this, you're aware that being a state alchemist makes you a dog of the military? That you'll have to do what as you're ordered? As I order you?' _Now there's a nice thought, maybe this won't be so bad, _'that if there's a war, I might be overruled and you might have to be sent to the lines? That every year you'll have to produce results or lose your position and privileges? And you're ok with all that?'

Fletcher visibly paled and gulped, Russell's jaw tightened slightly but otherwise gave no outward sign of doubt.

'Yes, we know the drawbacks.'

'Hmmmm, well that's a big ask, especially letting you take down whoever did this. If, and only if, you can tell me something useful about all this, then I will grant you both state alchemists status. And if the opportunity to find this person comes, I will let you accompany me or some other battle trained alchemist, to take them down.'

'Those weren't my terms.'

'Well there the best you're going to get, and don't forget that as you said I am on the board for deciding who will become a state alchemist from the next set of exams. And I can control who gets granted admission to the test.'

The ultimatum was clear, and a vein began to pulse in Russell's head, he clearly wasn't used to not getting his own way.

'That's not good en-' this time it was Russell's turn to be cut off, as his brother jabbed him sharply in the ribs.

'We accept,' Fletcher smiled, 'hunting them down is a stupid idea anyway, right brother?'

'Fine,' he muttered after a pause.

'Excellent,' smirked Ed with a hint of triumph as he shook the hands of both the Tringhams. He waited for a moment for the import of their deal to sink in before turning back to the business at hand, 'so what can you tell me about all this?'

Russell reached into his pocket and brought out an adjustable microscope that he attached to one eye of his glasses. Pulling the nearest branch towards him he began a closer examination of a leaf. Fletcher meanwhile walked over to the trunk of a tree and drew a quick circle on it. Closing his eyes, he pressed his forehead to the circle.

Fascinated Ed watched him. At first he couldn't tell if anything was happening, but then suddenly he felt that door in the back of his mind burst open once again and plunge him into the extra-sensory world, just like when he'd fought the Jack of Diamonds. The sudden intenseness of the world washed over him, exhilarating yet oppressive. He could feel the force and energy of Fletchers mind, extending out from the tree to the other pants, infusing every branch and inhabiting every leaf. Once more Ed could sense the connections in the world the strings of energy and life force that naturally bound everything together. But overlaid on top of it there was a different lattice, a spider-web thin weave of energy created by Fletcher's will. It wove from tree to tree, connecting and binding them all together in a secondary system. When it had spread to every tree it suddenly grew taut, constricting as it began to search and delve for the plants' origin. The energy poured down the trees, following down their trunks to the roots beneath, winding its way down to a dusty corner of the room where, hidden under the floorboards, was the source of all the alchemy. Ed could sense it clearly, as it pulsed with alchemic power and sent waves of energy rippling through the lattice. And just as suddenly it was gone, the door clicked shut and Ed was plunged back into the plain and lacklustre drudgery of his normal senses. Disappointment at his loss seethed in him even as he felt excitement at their discovery.

Fletcher, let out a breath long and slow, pulled away from the tree and opened his eyes.

'I located the origin,' he told Ed.

'Yes I saw,' replied Ed causing Fletcher to stare at him in shock, even Russell looked up from his examination a look of incredulity in his eyes, 'the far corner, under the floor. Go get some soldiers at the door and tell them I want them to rip up the floor, we'll get to the bottom of this.'

'Okay,' chirped Fletcher, before running off.

'He's too good to be in the military,' murmured Ed as he watched him run off, 'you should have stopped him.'

'I would have if I could have,' replied Russell, 'I hear that Al's gone and been stupid too. He's just like Fletch.'

'Yeah, you're right there,' agreed Ed, sharing a knowing look with Russell before he realised who he was talking to.

'I think I've found something,' murmured Russell to get over the sudden awkwardness.

'Oh?'

'Yeah here, take a look through this microscope,' he muttered, pulling another microscope from his pocket and handing it to Ed. 'You see the cells in the leaf? Usually they'd look like a set of bricks in a wall, rigid and solid. These however are a completely different story. They're moving about at a rapid rate, being pushed aside as new cells form at the stem. When they reach the end of the leaf they die. Rapid cell growth, it's how we usually make the plants grow so quickly, but it usually stops after it's stopped growing, stabilises you could say. Without this stabilization the plant continues to burn through its energy, and genetic limits and will eventually die. At this rate the plant will use all its energy and die within the next few hours. Nothing can keep up this kind of growth and re-growth without losing something.'

'For something to be gained, something of equal value must be lost. Doesn't that mean that they must also be drawing energy from somewhere? And the plants supposedly attacked people, any explanation on how?'

'Really? Now that is interesting, it would explain that I suppose. Usually it would be impossible to make a plant do something like that, they grow, seek sustenance from the ground and sun, spread their seeds, and then die, that's all there is to them. There's no real way to control them much beyond that, at least not without the specific guidance of the alchemist and with this many that's impossible. What I'm trying to say is that in order to instil a command into a plant, you need combine it with something capable of understanding the orders you give it. Usually some sort of small animal like a rat, the more complicated the animal the more complicated or intelligent the drive you can instil. It's a foul science that we chose to stay away from, but we understand the theory at least.'

'And are there signs of it in here?'

'Yes, look at the stem. You'll notice that the wall-like cells are broken up by rounder less rigid cells, moving through them like free radicals. Those are the cells of some animal, that have been infused with the plant on the cellular level, and then spread out. But they're dieing now. That's why they no longer attack.'

'That's an involved piece of alchemy.'

'Yes, on this scale it would be difficult to say the least, there's no way a normal person could do it without red water or some other amplifier.'

'Consider that a possibility,' replied Ed, deciding not to reveal too much about the amber liquid, 'is there anything else you can tell me for now.'

'Maybe, the cells look different to any I've seen used like this before. If I didn't know any better I'd say that they were.. .oh dear god.'

Ed simultaneously came to the same conclusion as Russell, 'I agree, they are. I should have warned you that it wouldn't be pretty.'

'No, no, I'm fine. In fact if we're right, then I know who did this, there's only one person who would use these, ahhh, specimens.'

'Oh and who is tha-' Ed started before being interrupted by a heavy crashing sound, followed by a round of cheering. They'd managed to get the floor boards up.

Ed and Russell exchanged another glance, they both knew what they'd find down there. Then another thought occurred to them.

'Fletcher, get away from there,' yelled Russell sprinting forward to pull his brother away from the hole.

But he was too late, he'd already seen the ghastly sight that was before him. His face had drained of colour and his body stiffened like a board. He barely even responded as his brother forcibly pulled him away from the hole. Even the soldiers, most of whom were long veterans, shied away in disgust, some of them going so far as to throw up. And Ed couldn't blame them.

At the bottom of the hole lay five very gaunt but clearly human bodies. They lay at each point of an alchemic pentagon, their arms spread wide to each other to create a circle. From each of their chests sprouted a series of thick pulsing vines, reaching out to the floor above and then dispersing out across the floorboards. Russel had been right; the bodies appeared to have been used as nutrients for the plants, leaving behind only bone and loose dried skin. Not a single ounce of flesh or drop of blood could be seen, not a single drop had been spared.

Taking a deep fortifying breath, Ed transmuted his arm into a blade and jumped into the hole. Someone had to cut the poor people loose and get them out of there for a proper funeral, and for the life of him he couldn't order anyone else to perform the gruesome task. Clenching his jaw, he set about his tasks, desperately thinking about Winry and what she was doing in an effort to take his mind off what his hands were doing.

* * *

'Who does he think he is,' fumed Winry as she stomped through the halls of Central hospital, 'tell me to drop everything and just attend to whoever he wants. I already have more patients than I have metal and time for. What does he expect me to do, just ignore everyone else just so that his get precedence. Well no sir, it does not work that way. Where the hell am I going anyway?'

'Ah Ms Rockbell we passed it already,' replied the one of the two soldiers guarding her, but that she'd quickly outpaced, 'here let me show you.'

'Fine, let's get this done so I can get back to my other patients.'

Turning the corner she spied a frantic looking Nurse Allan. She was flickering through a group of new admittee's, quickly assessing each one and assigning them different doctors. Winry guessed that this was the group that she was here for.

'You've got your hands cut out for you,' said Winry, friendly as she could be.

'Yes and so do you,' came the brisk reply, 'I have those that are ready to see you waiting in room 12. There are 5 of them, somehow they each lost an arm, but by some miracle we were able to wrap up the bleeding quickly enough to prevent major bloodless. Darndest thing I ever saw, must've been something weird in the accident to stop the blood flow.'

'Ok,' smiled Winry, there was no reason in showing her annoyance to anyone but the one who deserved it after all, 'I'll do a quick check of them and leave some instructions to one of the nurses then.'

'Good, now here take this and get out of my hair,' muttered Ms Allan as she thrust a pile of clip boards into Winry's hand.

_Ok so maybe he did have reason to prioritise this, _thought Winry as she looked over the charts, wincing as she read the words 'arm ripped off by tree'.

She was still reading as she entered the examination room and began talking, 'ok then all of you, I'm Winry Rockbell your automail mechanic. This is all covered by the state so don't worry. Ok if you could take off your shirts and sit so that I can see your wounds.'

The patients started to shuffle around the room. At the sound of their movements Winry looked up from her clipboard and immediately froze. To the casual observer nothing was out of place, they were merely five injured men. But to her trained eye, their oddities may as well have been screaming at her. It wasn't so much what they looked like, because they looked perfectly normal. It was the way they moved. None of their limbs moved like a limb normally would, but rather moved with the ever so slight, but to her, unmistakable, unnaturalness of a prosthetic appendage. Even their necks and eyes shifted in a way vaguely mechanical.

_But that's impossible, _she thought, _there's no metal on any of them, they're all flesh, then why do they move that way. _And suddenly Ed's words of caution came back to her, and suddenly she realised that ordering her body guards to stay outside might not have been her brightest idea. _Better safe than sorry, maybe that midget alchemist was right. _

Not taking her eyes off them, Winry took a deliberate step backwards towards the door. As soon as she moved to leave, the atmosphere of the room immediately shifted. Misery and pain was suddenly replaced with rage and malice. The injured men, affected dark grins and simultaneously stood loom over her.

Her immediate response was to turn and run, screaming out for help as she did so.

'Ooooh she's gone and figured it out hasn't she. She's a clever one she is, took no more than a second. Well that's good this wouldn't be any fun otherwise,' giggled the oldest of them, as he placed his hand over her mouth. Keeping his hand tightly over her mouth he passed Winry over to one of the other men, so that he could step around into her line of sight.

He was an elderly man, whose tidy hair and manicured nails seemed quite at odds with his shoddy clothes and grubby appearance. A manic smile unpleasantly split his face, a wild look filling his eyes. And all about him that strange unnaturalness, that oddity of movement evident even in the way he talked. He was clearly the leader of the group.

'Well then, I've got plans for you lassy, yes I do,' he shrilly declared, his smile never faltering, 'I'm going to punish you for taking a title and position that does not belong to you. Amrita's automail expert, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, what a glorious joke that is. To think that someone like you could be hailed as the best. I must admit you noticed my creations for what they were straight away, but that does not an automail expert make. Yes, I'm definitely going to have to teach you a lesson or two.'

Winry could only stare back at him in horror, wondering just what he was planning.

'But don't worry, we'll keep you in one piece for now, we need you to get to him intact after all. In fact, on that note, I'd best leave the letter I prepared,' as he said this he pulled an envelope from his pocket and placed it on the bench. Winry managed to see the words 'Fullmetal Alchemist' emblazoned on the front before she was pulled away by her captors.

'Well then, I get the strangest feeling that you're not going to make this easy. Are you? You little minx. Well don't you worry your pretty little head about that one, I have the perfect solution for that, just you watch.'

And with that, he raised one hand up in front of him and waved it in her face. She heard a faint whirring sound and the soft shifting of gears, and suddenly his hand detached itself from its place on his wrist and slide up his arm, revealing an empty tube where his wrists bones should have been. The mechanic in her noted how elegant the design was, and wondered how he managed to make fake skin to cover it, but the rest of her was terrified of just what it was for.

'Goodnight m'dear, don't worry I'll most certainly be there when you wake up. Hahahahehehehaaa.' He laughed insanely as he released as a strange green gas billowed out of his arm and surrounded Winry's head.

The effect of the gas was immediate. It was a knockout drug, and it knocked her out as fast as a blow to the head. The last thing she saw before the darkness overtook her was his face gruesomely contorted in a look of pure ecstasy as he laughed at her weak struggles. Oddly though, of it all, what she later remembered more than anything, was that his eyes seemed to be glowing a unearthly yellow amber as he laughed.

* * *

Ok, sorry it was such a long chapter, but I had a lot of stuff to get done before the next one...

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it and I hope that you feel the urge to review, negative or positive I don't mind...


	11. The Gift of the Father

Ok, for those who have seen this update and get to this point, this is the chapter I got up to before I stopped writing it for a long period. Coming back to it I re-read it noticing many spelling and grammatical mistakes as I did so. I also noticed a few plot issues that I've corrected (though did not correct the spelling and grammatical issues beyond this chapter). It's been so long so if you're one of those rare people who were reading this before, I suggest you read it through again and please forgive my mistakes, I intend to have a more thorough proof read for my future chapters. At the moment I intend to continue, I know where its going and would like to take it there, but I have a bad history for stopping so we'll see.

I'd like to thank those who have reviewed, particularly those who have raised specific problems. For the most part I agree with you and hope to address those problems. Regarding the 'he lost his alchemy' thing, I do agree it was an important character development and I did sort of mention what happened it was very brief. It's a part of the story, and I needed to clarify what happened a bit, I think. And it just so happens that this was a good chapter to do that, so I did a little.

So I hope you enjoy it.

* * *

Dear Mr Edward Elric

I am delighted to announce that you are hereby cordially invited to dine with myself and Ms Rockbell this evening. A car will be sent to collect you from the corner of Main and West at 6pm sharp. I feel it should be noted that it would be in the utmost bad taste to involve any additional unwanted parties to any stage of the proceedings. If you do not do me the grace of this minor courtesy, I'm afraid that something rather... beastly... would happen to the young lady. Indeed it would be best if our little rendezvous was kept between us. As a courtesy to you, you needn't reply, I'll be watching.

Regards,

The King of Spades.

Ed ripped up the letter and alchemically incinerated it, he'd read it a hundred times by now anyway. Outwardly he was quite calm, the only trace of anger showing on his face was his tightly clenched jaw. His serenity however was only skin-deep. On the inside his anger seethed, a whirling maelstrom of rage and self-reproach. This was his fault. He was the one who sent those wounded 'civilians' to her. He was the one who ordered her to leave the safety of Central base. And now what had happened? She'd been kidnapped, taken, with only an unsubtle threatening letter left behind. How had he let this happen?

_'Why did it have to be Winry,' _Ed thought sombrely, '_she's done nothing wrong, she's not even involved. She's not even a threat to them? Winry.' _

He would of course have to follow the letter's instructions. He knew it was against the rules, but quite frankly Mustang and the Fuhrer could take the rules and shove them. This was Winry that was in danger, and he'd do whatever it took to save her. She was all that mattered. The reason he was even in the army. It was as simple as that.

He was standing in the middle of what looked like a war zone. Charred remains were all that was left of the west wing of central hospital after Winry's abductors had blasted their way out. It had been a massacre, the few soldiers posted there weren't expecting the sudden attack. And even if they had been, they were completely outgunned. The few survivors reported that the 'civilians' had been hiding automail implants, and were packed to the teeth with heavy ordinance and some sort of hidden body armour. His men were going so far as to call them 'cyborgs,' whatever the hell that meant.

Unbidden the numbers ran through his head, '_15 dead, 67 wounded including the head nurse Ms Allan, up to 20 million in damage to state property, and Winry taken_.'

All of it, his fault. For some reason Armstrong didn't agree with him on that though. Even through the peak of his rage about Ms Allan's injuries he didn't once blame Ed. Even going so far as to magnanimously refuse to let Ed take the blame. Even the Fuhrer wouldn't accept Ed taking the responsibility for this, claiming that no one could have predicted something like this, and that he'd followed protocol perfectly. And he knew it was true; objectively, clinically. It was true. But for some reason, he just couldn't let it go. He just couldn't help but think of all the what ifs. What if he had of kept the injured on site, or sent them to central HQ. What if he'd never agreed to involve Winry with the military. What if he'd taken her away from Amestris the moment he heard about this mess.

He felt a slight tremor rise in his chest, a rattle that shuddered through him, leaving him cold and anxious, fearful. With it came it was a deep and pervasive sadness, draining him of energy and will. But he hadn't the time for such weakness. He took a deep trembling breath, bottling up his worries as he did so, then releasing them with his exhale. The worst effect of his anxiety was pushed away, but was in no way assuaged. It would take something much more extravagant and brutally violent on his part for that to happen.

Dispassionately he glanced at his watch. 4:30 pm, he'd have to hurry if he were to make his appointment. A click of his fingers summoned a nearby soldier, to whom he started to rattle off a list of orders, his voice an expressionless monotone.

"Inform the Fuhrer, my brother and Mustang that I'm going to be away for a while, possibly even a few days, I do not yet know. I'm going to engage in some private investigations of my own. I do not want to be followed. Furthermore, tell Mustang to find all information he can on Graham Steele; he broke out of prison a short while ago and one of my aides will have a file on him. Also tell him to pass whatever he finds on to Lieutenant Colonels Armstrong, particularly Alex, if my suspicions are correct he'll want to know everything about this."

"Yes sir."

"Then send a message to the Tringhams, they'll likely be at the homeless shelter that was attacked. Tell them to report to my Brother with everything they find out, they are to be made into state alchemists, but are to be put to investigating Amrita. Tell my aides, and my brother to keep an eye on the papers, they'll have a field day on this, I want you to take the first evidential sign of a connection with Amrita you find and use it to bring them down and crush them. This takes priority over all other matters. Do you have all that?"

"Yes sir!" saluted the soldier, who had produced a pen and paper from somewhere.

"Good, one last thing," murmured Ed grabbing the pen and paper and writing down a quick note. Folding the paper her he wrote a name and an address on the back and handed it back, "take this note to the name on the paper. It is for no one else's eyes. Now go get me a car, without a driver. Quickly, I'm in a rush."

If the soldier thought his actions strange, he said nothing, silently running off to fulfill his charge.

Ed was left alone once again, standing in the midst of the devastated hospital. He hoped that he'd made the right decision this time, especially in sending a note to HIM. He was unpredictable at the best of times, and by all reports the years since he'd last seen him hadn't helped.

* * *

Ed arrived at the meeting spot with 10 minutes to spare. With a forced casualness he parked his car and idly walked the remaining distance to the corner street. He was vaguely aware that he was being watched. He didn't care. It didn't matter. He'd been expecting as much.

Within moments of his arrival a limousine with tinted windows pulled up next to him, and opened one of the back doors. A hand appeared and beckoned for him to come in. Stepping inside the car, he was assaulted by the smell cheap leather and oil, even as the sudden loss of light in the dark car robbed him of most of his sight. He could only vaguely make out the outline of a man sitting on the opposite side of the car.

"Where are we go-" Ed started, only to be cut short by a puff of powder blown into his face. Within moments the smells and darkness of the car was replaced by the even more cloying grip of unconsciousness.

* * *

Eventually Ed began to dream. But not just any dream, it was the dream. The recurring dream. The dream he'd had on and off for two years. The last time he'd had it had been on the train on the way home. That seemed so long ago now. But that didn't stop him from remembering every word as it happened.

He was standing in the central HQ Courtyard, rising from the body of his brother, who had just been returned to him. Surrounded by the rubble of the aftermath from the fight with the father. Hoenheim stood before him, a weary look spread across his features.

"Do you regret the price you've paid?" his father asked with an intensity that Ed had rarely seen before.

"Never."

"My my, that's such a mature sentiment; you've really grown on your journey."

"What the hell's that supposed to mean bastard," growled Ed in response.

"It means that we believe you have suffered for your sin already."

This was familiar to him, he'd been here before, had this conversation before, but now the dream diverged. Reality shifted and the world was drained of colour. Shapes became indistinct and slowly faded until there was nothing but white. Before he knew what was happening he stood before the gate. But this time he there was no Truth there with him, smiling and mocking his choices. There was no one, but him, his father and the gate.

"What are we doing here?" he asked, "I've given this up."

Hoenheim stared past him, not focusing on him nor seemingly paying him much mind. Nonetheless he spoke, the vague look on his face leaving no doubt in Ed's mind that he wasn't answering Ed's question.

"Alchemy is about equivalency, and suffering is a currency like everything else."

"What are you talking about?" demanded Ed, anger rising in his chest.

"The world exists in balance. Selflessness balances selfishness. Life balances death."

"I don't understand; you're not making any sense!"

Suddenly Hoenhiem's gaze locked with Ed's. When he spoke his voice sang with the chorus of a thousand voices. "We have decided that you have suffered your share. Given for where you took."

"What do you mean I've suffered my share?" asked Ed, for the first time feeling fear curl in his gut.

His father's gaze softened, and a gentle smile spread across his face, "equivalency must be observed, and what need is there for truth in death? You have suffered enough. You have learned your lesson, selfishness repented with selflessness. Never forget that lesson."

"No, I won't," whispered Ed, not understanding but sensing it was important. At his words Hoenheim closed his eyes, and centuries of tension relaxed from his face. He let his head fall back his arms rose up, extended to each side as if he were giving himself up to some higher power. Before them the gate started to groan as if buckling from the inside. A crack appeared on its face, quickly splitting out and spreading to cover the entire gate into an intricate lattice of fractures. Hoenheim barred his teeth and a deep rumbling echoed from his chest. The rumbling built and then exploded from his lips as a scream of agony. At the sound of his voice the door gave way and burst in shower of thousands of fragments. A single tear slipped from Hoenheim's eye as he turned to look at his son. He looked old and haggard as if the energy and vigour of life had left him. Slowly, painfully, his form began to waver and fade, gradually blending into the vast white abyss.

"I'll give you a gift my son. Under the laws of the world, under the laws of Truth, all things must die. Not even I can flee from this undeniable rule of equivalency, I am not enough. As all things, I must die, and you have no need for truth in death," his father's voice whispered, washing past him like a breeze. He seemed calm, at first but then his voice began to quake with a mixture of rage and despair as he whispered his last words to his son, "Edward, take my gift and do what needs to be done."

As the whispered words reached him, Ed felt them wash over him piercing through him and reaching for his soul. A heat grew in his chest spreading out to his finger tips, a pleasant warming sensation that relaxed his muscles. But then it began to burn. Agony gripped him as every inch, inside and out, began to burn, searing through till he felt it in his soul. But still his focus was on his father.

"No, come back," he whimpered, collapsing to the ground as his flesh began to sizzle, "don't leave like this, don't do this to me, I didn't want you to leave like this. Father!"

Awareness flooded back to him as his dream world snapped like a rubber band. Severed by the shocking rush of ice-cold water being dashed in his face. His eyes shot open revealing a man with cold dead eyes. A man that Ed remembered from a photo on his desk.

"Oh would you look at that, you're awake," smirked Graham Steele as he lowered his bucket.

Ed assumed his most confident look and took his time in casting a casual glance around the room, absorbing every detail with the sweep of his eye. He was sitting, or rather was tied down, in a stone hall, a room that had been chiseled and shaped by hand from a natural cave. Great marble pillars reached to the vaulted roof and veins of silver stretched like tendrils through the walls.

He was seated at an ornate oak table, a lavish meal of various meats and delicacies spread out before him. Across from him sat the man he now knew to be the Ace of Spades, calmly eating his meal and not seeming to give Ed much mind. To his right was Steele, a man Ed now had no doubt was a member of Amrita. To his left sat an unconscious Winry; her head drooped onto her shoulder but otherwise she appeared unharmed.

At the sight of her, Ed's lost his calm confidence and began to struggle against the bonds binding him to the chair. Realising it was useless he locked eyes with the man to his right and growled through gritted teeth, "If you've hurt her I'll-"

"You'll what," sniggered Steele with a raised eyebrow as he sat back in his chair, "you can barely even move much less do anything vaguely threatening. And even if you could, I assure you that you would be no bother to us, as I believe my chimaeric brother here has already demonstrated quite clearly."

In response Ed bared his teeth and continued to pull against his bindings.

"Now now, that's enough of that brother," said the King of Spades around a piece of steak, "there's no need to be rude, especially not to such an important guest." Dabbing at his mouth with a nearby napkin he pushed his plate away and leaned back in his chair.

"Bah, I don't know what you see in this pathetic little pipsqueak. He's just a helpless sack of meat," replied the other man.

Spades sighed and wearily placed a hand over his face, "that's so typical of you, not even bothering to look at the materials we've been given. Sure he may not seem like much but I assure you he's so much more than meets the eye. And I definitely don't think he's just some sack of meat."

"What the hell are you talking about," interjected Ed.

"Oh well that gets straight to the point doesn't it. Surprising really, you haven't even asked us where you are, or why your young friend here can't even raise her head," smiled the King of Spades getting looking slightly bemused.

"Just answer the question."

"Well now that was a bit rude don't you think? I suggest that you keep that tongue of yours in check, there's no need for things to become uncivilized. In fact I'd have thought that you had every reason to stay civilized about this, hmmm? Now then, answering your question -"

"He doesn't need to understand, he just needs to obey," growled Graham with a malevolent glint in his eyes.

"Yes, but there are many ways to achieve that, another thing you're incapable of understanding," he replied in the exasperated tone of someone who was having an old argument. Upon seeing that his brother raised no objection he turned back to Ed, "as you know Mr Elric, I am a man of both art and science. And despite his manner, so is my brother here, though of a very different sort. As a scientist, my greatest desire is to unlock the full potential of mankind as a species, and as an artist it is my wish to turn our dreary forms into works of beauty and wonder. Such as what you saw in my lab."

"What I saw an endless parade of grotesque mockeries of life. Pitiable crimes against nature. Persons that you'd deliberately deprived of their humanity and intelligence. You hadn't created beauty, you'd created mindless beasts to do your service."

"Now you see, its narrow minded viewpoints like that cause me so much trouble. I bet you think that what I've done is somehow "immoral" or "unethical." Whatever that's supposed to mean. You see, boy, my beautiful art is often misunderstood, and is rarely appreciated for its magnificence. You see abominations, I see hastened evolution in progress. I am a visionary my boy, and I'm always on the lookout for ways to improve my art, for the betterment of mankind. My brother here, well he has a similar goal, but he goes about it in a very different way. A less biological way. But that's not important, what's important here is my research, and the repeated impediments that have been thrown in my way by your people and your childish sense of morality. And most importantly of all the role that you can play in my works."

"I don't do human transmutation."

"Well not anymore anyway," snorted Graham to Ed's side, smirking when he saw the surprised look on Ed's face, "oh yes, we've done our research quite thoroughly. And that includes our research on your young lady friend here. As well as your many other friends. You certainly did make a lot of friends on your quest for the stone didn't you? Let's hope you don't end up regretting that fact."

"Yes, well, scarcely veiled threats aside," continued the King of Spades, "the part you play in my work has nothing to do with your negligible alchemic skills. No, I hardly think I need rely on something so unrefined. You fit more into the test subject, or "curio" category. You see, I found it a tad strange when I was unable to transmute you like I had hundreds of others before you. And I couldn't help but wonder why."

"You failed because you stuffed it up."

"Ha! My my, the stones on you. Tied up and still talking back. Brother if you would be so kind."

His brother sprang from his chair as if he'd been waiting for such a request. Before Ed realised what was happening he was sent crashing to the ground, blood dripping from his nose. As quickly as it happened, the brother was pulling him and his chair back up, placing him once more at the end of the table. After plonking Ed back into his place he went and stood behind Winry, casually resting his hands on her shoulders.

"Are we a bit more settled now?" inquired Spades in the same polite tone, acting as if nothing had happened, "good. My that is a nasty nose bleed you have there don't you agree, something like that is sure to bleed for solid 10 maybe even 15 minutes don't you think? Hmmm...? You know I might take it as awfully rude of you not to reply."

"It wasn't that good of a hit, it's already stopping now."

"Why yes, I believe you're correct, well about the latter part at least. I assure you it was a perfectly respectable blow, and should have taken far longer to stop. Isn't it fascinating that it didn't? Do you know what else is fascinating? Hmmm?"

"No."

"Why this of course."

As he said this he reached down to the floor beside himself and picked up an object wrapped in newspaper. With disgust, Ed noticed that one end of the paper was stained with blood. The King of Spades began unwrapping the paper, indifferent to the blood dripping from it. Even unfolded Ed couldn't see the contents, at least that is until it was lifted up and tossed towards him. A bloody appendage bounced then slid across the table, coming to a rest just in front of him. It was a hand, severed at the wrist, still wet with blood and still retaining its colour. A trail of blood marked where it had slid across the table, a trailed arrow of blood pointing directly at Ed. He felt his stomach heave, his teeth clenched, and without thinking he darted a glance at Winry to see if it was hers.

"Who – Whose hand is that," Ed managed to choke out.

"What's this? You don't know? Well that's interesting too. I expected you to know, given that it is, or rather was, your hand."

"Bullshit," Ed growled, but he nonetheless somewhat stupidly looked down to check that his hand was in fact there. And it was, looking exactly as he expected and without any sign of injury, but also looking exactly like the hand on the table.

"Oh no, I assure you it's true. We took that from you, ooh an hour before we stopped the sedative. And look, your hand is already grown back good as new. Without any help from us I might add, just like how your nose stopped bleeding within seconds, despite the rather powerful blow given by my brother here."

"You're talking rubbish, you performed alchemy on me, human transmutation," growled Ed, his heart hammered in his chest and he could feel rage starting to build.

"Yes, that's a reasonable belief, and I probably could were I inclined, It's not in the typical direction of my work but I suppose I could have. But the fact remains that I didn't, you grew it back all by yourself. Now isn't that fascinating."

"Stop lying, and tell me what you've done to me!" Yelled Ed in full fury.

"Now now, no need to get angry, it can have bad consequences for those around you," replied Spades as calmly as ever, making sure to flick an obvious glance at Winry and secretly delighting in how quickly Ed stilled, "after all, all I've done is taken away one measly little hand, I mean it's not like you're going to miss it are you."

"No, this is stupid. You're wrong, I have automail. I've been in the hospital with broken ribs recently. If I could heal like that then I wouldn't have these prosthetics."

"Yes that is a bit of a puzzle isn't, and it was after looking at your, well I suppose we'll call it blood, that that problem occurred to me. I was a bit confused as well, but then it made me even more excited. Everything suddenly started to make sense. For you see alchemy, even unconscious alchemy, is driven by will. It is the heart of all transmutation, without a will, even a latent one, there can be no Alchemy. My theory, is that your disfigurement is to your own liking, that you subconsciously believe that you deserve to have lost that arm and leg. That who you are, in your mind, is not a person fully formed, but rather a limb-challenged sinner who must face his punishment for his actions. Or some pseudo-psychotic romanticised garbage like that, I don't know. I don't really care about how messed up you are psychologically. What I do care about is that your healing factor has been suppressed until recently, somehow, for some reason you've been changed sometime in the past, and for some reason recent events have triggered further developments, including your remarkable healing. What I really care about is your body and the fact that you mind seems to have some control over how it engages in that healing. And even more excitingly, if your 'blood' work is to be believed, what you might continue to develop into. It's a fascinating scientific inquiry. But I'm getting ahead of myself again. I have to start by answering the first and most important question. Given your healing, given your resistance to **human **transmutation, and given the quite frankly dubious humanity of your father one has to ask: just what the are you? Hmmm?"

Ed had turned increasingly pale as he spoke, as the implications of what he was saying began to sink in. Doubt was traded for suspicion, suspicion for foreboding and finally foreboding for belief. Ever since his fight with the Jack of Diamonds, and the unlocking of that door in his mind, he'd felt something change inside of him, something that wasn't quite right. An occasional connectedness with the world, and enhancement of his senses, and even before, all of that knowledge that he'd never had before. If he was right, a lot of questions that had been looming over him would certainly be answered. But where would it leave him? Was he some sort of undefined creature? A monster? A contortion of nature as horrific as the chimaera or homunculi? _What am I? _And suddenly his thoughts turned to his recurring dreams, and the role his father played in both them and his moments of alchemic power. _What did that old bastard do to me?_

"I take it your silence means you have no answer for me? Well not to worry, I didn't expect you to know, especially considering that I do not. But I suspect that you now realise why you're here. How incredible a test subject you are. How much I want to learn from you. I'm terribly sorry Ed, but I guarantee your next few weeks will be absolute hell. But you're just going to have to bear it I'm afraid. You can take comfort though in the fact that you're making a glorious sacrifice for the sake of my art, and therefore for the good of mankind."

"Stuff you."

The King of Spades' face broke out into a cheerful grin, accompanied by a rustling behind Ed. Graham had silently stole his way behind him, and before Ed knew what was happening he was plunged into darkness once more as a bag was pulled down over his head.

* * *

"God dammit that's not good enough," screamed Al smashing his fists down on Mustang's desk, "I don't give a crap about what he said should be done. I don't care about his wishes. We find him and we bring him back."

Roy Mustang was taken aback by the unexpected display of rage from the younger Elric Brother. He'd seen Alphonse annoyed and disgruntled, he'd even seen him angry enough to be moved to violence, but through all of those times never once had he been known to lose his cool. He was the most calm and downright placid person that the Flame Alchemist had ever come across, and the last thing he'd ever expected to see was a very Edward-esque look of rage contorting the young man's features.

"If we blunder in now we could ruin whatever Ed has planned," replied Mustang in a placating tone.

"If we move in now we could potentially save his life from whatever idiotic mess he's gotten himself into," Al retorted with a certain ring of truth.

"Now really what do you think the chances are that he's headed into more than he can handle? I mean really, you give him a too little credit."

"No, I merely know where his strengths and weaknesses are. And the fact that Winry disappeared less than half a day before he did, implies to me pretty damn strongly that someone somewhere has their hand around the throat of the biggest weakness he has."

"You're being melodramatic. Just calm down and you'll realise you're being ridiculous. Besides he's been gone for over a week now and we've had not a single lead on his whereabouts, I have in fact had men in the field searching every nook and cranny for him but haven't found anything. What do you really think we could possibly do, even if it was a good idea to do so? We have no idea where either of them are."

"We can send out more men," replied Alphonse somewhat churlishly.

"No in fact we cannot, we can barely spare the ones we currently have working on it. Between Ed's order to watch all the papers, dealing with the increasing Chimaera spottings, and trying to find the hole where all the damn beasts are coming from we've got more on our plate than we can really handle at the moment. Particularly when you throw in the fact we're getting more and more reports of violent and disorderly conduct committed by our own men every day. What do you really expect us to do?"

"Then I should go search for him myself."

Mustang stifled a sigh of annoyance, "May I remind you that you are one of the leading officials of this Government, we are already missing one of the Council members and have another recently wounded. In this time of upheaval we cannot allow another member to go gallivanting around on a hopeless quest. And besides you've got a real mission to take care of anyway."

Alphonse drew in a deep breath, gathering his anger in his chest and exhaling it like Mei had taught him. He knew that Mustang was right, as much as he hated to admit it. He just didn't like feeling so helpless and impotent. Two of the people closest to him had just disappeared in a city; and after what he'd seen when he was fighting the King of Spades, he knew that he had cause to be extremely worried about both of them. _Perhaps Mustang's right, _he concluded, _maybe the only way I can do anything for them is by continuing the fight here._

Mustang relaxed a little when he saw some of the tension leaving the younger man's shoulders, he was exceedingly aware just how dangerous Al could be. However, it was only when Al gave voice to his acquiescence that the Flame Alchemist removed his fingers from a discretely formed finger snap formation.

"What needs doing," asked Al in a slightly defeated tone.

"It turns out Ed was right," replied Mustang simply tossing a manila folder down onto the desk, "We've finally got the evidence we need."

Alphonse flicked open the front page of the folder and to reveal a bundle of papers and photographs. On top of the file was a picture of two people shaking hands that he'd never seen himself before, but he had heard enough descriptions of them both to be able to identify them instantly. The first was the Jack of Spades, the man that took Ed's arm. The second was Lauren Nobel, the acclaimed journalist and chief editor of _Central intelligence. _

"How did we get this?" gasped Alphonse.

"Dumb luck as far as I can tell, one of Ed's agents just happened to be having coffee across the street when he saw her walking past. He decided to follow her, and here we are."

But Al was already moving out the door calling out to as many people as he could and issuing orders as fast as possible. He had a lead, and for the sake of Ed and Winry, Alphonse was going to make sure that he didn't lose it.

* * *

The man's eyes burned red, faintly glowing in the dimly lit lane. His eyes were as a gateway to the never-ending furnace of rage and hatred of his heart. The muscles in his jaw clenched, as did those in his fingers as he tightened his grip around the throat of the abomination which he held. He hadn't thought that the alchemists would start creating these monsters again so soon. And he'd never expected to find them in such great numbers. Chimaeras, how he abhorred their very existence for the affront they were against the natural order and His will.

He stared deep into the eyes of the pitiable creature held before him, and was unable to find even the dimmest glimmer of intelligence from the man it had once been. _How fortunate, _he thought, _it always makes this so much easier._

He'd been in Central only three days now and his first action was to begin his holy crusade against the godless beasts which infested the city. It was frighteningly easy, he could sense them a mile off, and he could sense them everywhere. Not all of them were human amalgams, which was only a slight silver lining, and all the human blends had been deliberately liberated from the intellectual and moral shackles of humanity. This last part was a mixed blessing. They had no strategy, but they also had no inhibitions in attacking. Not that it mattered though, no matter how they attacked him it always ended with his fist around their throat.

"I release you from this mortal coil and send a prayer on your way to the afterlife," he whispered, even as the blasphemous writings on his arm glowed red. The light flared up and shone with an intensity to scorch the eyes, only to once more collapse and disappear into nothingness, leaving behind only a blood splattered wall and the limp remains of the beast in his hand. "May god have mercy on your soul, for he shall have none on he who perverted you."

The lifeless figure was tossed to idly to the ground and the man spared it not a second glance. He pulled from his pocket a watch and a scrap of paper where a hasty note had been scrawled. He had only 15 minutes left before he was required to make an entrance, before he'd get his chance to strike a real blow at the monsters that created these beasts. He was going to enjoy the carnage that was to come.

_'May God have mercy on my eternal soul.'_

High above him, standing hidden in the rooftops a lone man watched and smiled. His teeth gleamed in the darkness and the occasional ray of moonlight reflected from his ever present deck of cards.

_'Interesting,' _the man thought, '_I never thought he would go so far as to call him into play. He should prove useful.'_

* * *

Thanks for reading and sorry again for taking so ridiculously long to update it.

If you're a bit confused where I pulled that dream thing from just take a quick look at the beginning of chapter one again.

Once again I invite reviews!


End file.
